FORUM: The Sting In The Dolphin Tale Of World Aquatics Vs Swimming Australia
Thema: What gives in the story of struggle between Matt Dunn and his former Olympic teammate and Olympic champion Chris Fydler, who has been made the subject of an integrity challenge in the wake of a vote against Dunn's presence at top tables in international governance
There are two sides to every story, or so the saying goes. In fact, it's often a case of 'a great many sides' to a story owing to the complexity of life at the interface of the ever-present politics that brushes up against claims of apolitical approaches to governance in sport when clearly the nature of neutrality speaks to its scarcity.
Sometimes, however, it's possible for a story to have just the one side to it when it comes down to the substantive motivation underpinning a 'goal to rule over all other goals'.
Question: is the latter what we're looking at in the story of World Aquatics and one former Australian teammate Vs Swimming Australia (and its state membership) and another Australian teammate, one with an Olympic gold medal round his neck?
Here's the bout I'm talking about:
Red Corner: Matt Dunn, a FINA (now World Aquatics) long-term top tabler who made finals on the biggest of occasions in his sport, the Olympic Games and World Championships - coaches, World Aquatics leadership
Blue Corner: Chris Fydler, the recently appointed president of Swimming Australia who back in Sydney 2000 was part of the victorious Australia quartet that smashed guitars own the poolside after inflicting an historic defeat on the United States in the men's 100m freestyle relay:
| Position | Country | Team Members | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Australia | Michael Klim (48.18), Chris Fydler (48.48), Ashley Callus (48.71), Ian Thorpe (48.30) | 3:13.67 | WR |
| Silver | United States | Anthony Ervin (48.89), Neil Walker (48.31), Jason Lezak (48.42), Gary Hall Jr. (48.24) | 3:13.86 | AM |
- Heats: Todd Pearson and Adam Pine raced for Australia; Scott Tucker and Josh Davis raced for the United States.
Supposed independent arbitrator: World Aquatics Integrity Unit.
Why supposed? Because I know - and so does World Aquatics - that there are people on the 'independent' Integrity Unit who have taken money for providing services to domestic federation heads who sit on the top tables of aquatics at continental and global levels (heads who, in turn, are subject to integrity complaints) and, regardless of which cases those people may or may not work on at any given time, I am of the opinion that national federations should be sufficiently concerned to consider the presence of those making money from work generated by the bosses who created the Integrity unit a serious risk to the integrity of all organisations involved.
World Aquatics chief executive Brent Nowicki is on record as not only confirming that Fydler is under investigation by the Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU) but that "a charge has been levied and procedures are ongoing".
A charge? Good grief. That may be a cultural blip but the word carries heavy meaning in my part of the world.
So, let's get down to what we know - and what we think, fact and opinion among our own core missions in this FORUM.
