By David
Well, I paid the $50.00 fee and filed the protest. And I lost – that’s the fee and the protest. Swimming New Zealand decided that because FINA’s rules say that all pools should comply with their minimum standards there was no need for them to provide a pool meeting the 1.35 meter FINA minimum depth requirement. “Should,” they said does not mean “must”. Of course I took their decision to the Jury of Appeal. I lost there as well.
And so Swimming New Zealand happily ordered 650 young New Zealanders to dive into a swimming pool that the world governing body of swimming says is unsafe; says is dangerous. The minimum depth standard is there for a reason. Sure, there is an element of performance, but primarily the standard is to there to protect the safety of participants in the sport. Swimming New Zealand knows this full well, and still they are happy to put verbal semantics ahead of the safety of their members.
A day seldom goes by that I do not encourage my swimmers to dive deep in order to use and improve the underwater portion of their start. The start used by top swimmers today is unimaginably different from the start used ten years ago. Swimmers dive deeper and stay under the water longer than they ever did when FINA’s depth rule was written. If 1.25 meters was dangerous then, today it is an accident waiting to happen.
The title of this story is “When ‘Should’ Becomes ‘Must.'” Well, the cavalier attitude of Swimming New Zealand toward swimmer safety pretty well ensures that when some swimmer dives into their 1.25 meter deep pool and in that instant is transformed from star athlete to tetraplegic – that’s when “should” will finally mean “must”. And every administrator who had anything to do with the decision to overturn my protest will be directly responsible for the maimed life of that child. I do hope they sleep badly tonight.
There has already been one death at a Swimming New Zealand event this year. The disregard of Swimming New Zealand administrators for the safety and care of their members means that unfortunate tragedy is unlikely to be the last.
For their information, this is what will happen when a Swimming New Zealand athlete hits their head on the bottom of the 1.25 meter deep Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre pool. “The injury which is known as a lesion, causes victims to lose total function of all four limbs. Functioning is also impaired in the torso, meaning lost control of the bowel, bladder, sexual function, digestion, breathing and other automatic functions. Secondarily, quadripegics are often more vulnerable to pressure sores, osteoporosis, fractures, respiratory complications and cardiovascular disease. If the injury is high enough the swimmer will probably lose all function from the neck down meaning they will be ventilator-dependent for life. Certainly the swimmer will need constant care and assistance in the activities of daily living such as getting dressed and bowel and bladder care.”
And just to avoid making a safety announcement prior to each session and moving the 2012 winter short course championships to Auckland, the Swimming New Zealand officials at this meet and Mike Byrne and the Board of Swimming New Zealand and Peter Miskimmin from SPARC were prepared to play Russian roulette with the lives of 650 of their members. These administrators have much to answer for in the way this sport is managed. They have lied, hidden information from their members and promoted personal ambition ahead of the interests of the sport. No neglect or deception however compares with this most recent treachery. I seldom resort to asking for divine intervention. On this occasion some celestial assistance may be needed. The actions of those responsible for the sport here on earth guarantee that the physical trauma we sought to avoid is now just a matter of time.
There is one more possible action. Perhaps I can take this case to the Sport’s Tribunal. Certainly, a positive outcome would be worth the effort. During the next two weeks I will investigate what is involved and let you know whether a Tribunal action is possible. If Swimming New Zealand and SPARC have no interest in protecting the safety of their members then we should do it for them.
Strangely the action of the Age Group Championship administrators in the case of the pool depth contrasted starkly with their decisions regarding an Auckland swimmer’s broken toe. I must preface this story by saying it was told to me second and third hand. If I have made a mistake in any of the detail please forgive me. But as I understand it here is what happened.
The Auckland swimmer broke her big toe a week ago but was cleared by her doctor to swim in the Championships on the condition she strap her big toe to the next toe. She swam her first event well and qualified for the final. An official, called Jo Davidson, who has given me dishonesty problems before, summoned the swimmer and disqualified her for illegal strapping. The swimmer would only be allowed to swim the final if, in the three hours between the heats and the finals, she obtained the approval of the FINA Medical Committee in Switzerland. And so we had the spectacle of officials who were prepared to allow swimmers to dive into illegal shallow water but were also happily banishing, on the grounds of personal safety, a swimmer who had two toes taped together. You are right, of course – Monty Python could not write this stuff.
I am delighted to report that sanity prevailed. A New Zealand doctor, who knows more than most about swimming and is also on the FINA Medical Tribunal, was contacted by administrators from the Auckland Centre. The doctor wrote to the Meet Officials and confirmed he saw no problem with the swimmer taking part in the backstroke final. I’m not sure whether that’s what happened. I certainly hope so. Either way though – it’s hard to escape the feeling that a C1 spinal fracture is less important to Swimming New Zealand than a strapped big toe.
