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Nick D’Arcy doesn’t reckon he can shake his tarnished reputation as he dips his toe back into competition for the first time in seven months.
The controversial swimmer still has a possible jail term hanging over his head for assault charges and is uncertain about his future in the sport before this weekend’s World Cup meet in Sydney.
But as for public opinion, he wasn’t sure what he could to fix his damaged image.
“I don’t know how much I can do,” he said today.
“I think all I can do is to get here and do what I do in the pool and race fast and if that changes peoples mindsets then … if that doesn’t, then I don’t think there is a lot that I can do about that.”
In front of a handful of media at the Olympic Park, he started off relaxed but as the questioning continued he slowly veered towards the water.
It is understandable as the pool has been one of the few places of solace for him over the past six months since being banished from the Beijing Olympics team for his role in an infamous bar altercation with Commonwealth Games champion Simon Cowley.
“Getting in the water has helped me to get away from it all,” he said.
The 21-year-old added another challenge to his long list of things to do before committing himself to competing at the 2012 London Olympics.
He set himself a target of a top-four finish in his pet event, the 200m butterfly, at next year’s Rome world championships.
D’Arcy said such a result would encourage him to chase a berth at the London Games.
His best time this year was the 12th fastest in the world but it must be remembered he missed the chance to race the best in China.
“I am not thinking about the next Olympics. I am just taking it one step at a time and I think that is the only way I can do it. To just go from meet to meet and see how I feel,” he said.
But firstly he must deal with his ongoing court case which is expected to be heard next year before negotiating a judiciary hearing set up by Swimming Australia on the bar incident.
In between all that, he must qualify for a swim in Rome at March’s world championships trials.
He admitted to being much more comfortable answering questions by the pool then going in and out of a court room.
“I am a bit more relaxed than usual because usually the questions are ones that I don’t want to answer but here I am down on pool deck and we are talking about swimming (so) I have no problems,” he said.
He will swim in the 100m and 200m butterfly at the shortcourse meet this weekend which includes Olympic 1500m champion Oussama Mellouli.