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Nick D’Arcy doesn’t know when it will hit him. A clock and five rings have motivated every action for as long as he can remember. Every early morning wake-up, lap and gym session fuelled by an ambition to represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
D’Arcy booked his spot on the plane to London at the weekend, but he was far from elated – on the outside anyway.
The controversial star has been here before of course.
Four years ago a late night scuffle with former swimmer Simon Cowley saw him eventually booted off the Australian team for the Beijing Olympics.
The assault charges and legal battle that followed also denied him the chance to go to the World Championships in Rome in 2009.
Now, D’Arcy is not just part of the Australian team, but a red-hot chance of taking down American superstar Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly.
Debate has raged about D’Arcy ever since that night in Sydney in 2008.
Is he worthy of representing Australia? This isn’t just any team. It’s the Australian Olympic swim team. The pride of the nation for decades.
It’s a question that still makes him uncomfortable.
On Sunday night, he continually said all he could do was “control the controllable”.
It was a line used with the type of regularity that would make a politician proud.
If you take the reaction of the public in Adelaide as a guide then you’d have to come to the conclusion that D’Arcy has been forgiven for his past misdemeanours.
The mere mention of his name behind the blocks brought those in attendance to their feet. This wasn’t just a pocket of vocal supporters, but the whole crowd.
The noise increased ten-fold when he turned for home in the 200 fly.
D’Arcy admitted that he could hear them as well.
Is this just “swimming people” supporting their own or do you not care about his past anymore either?
There’s a school of thought that says missing an Olympics and a World Championships combined with the reputation-battering legal dispute is punishment enough.
Others say he has shown little remorse for his actions.