Olympic chiefs gain police check powers

Australian Olympic bosses have the power to do police checks on prospective
Olympians following a tightening of the selection process in the wake of the Nick
D'Arcy and Chris Jongewaard affairs.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has stepped up its hard-line stance on bad
behaviour by approving wide-ranging measures before the 2010 Vancouver and 2012
London Games.
They include that an athlete's conduct must not be "inconsistent with the best
interest, image or values of the AOC".
The athletes must also disclose any "serious offence involving alcohol, drugs, any
sex offences and any offence which is punishable by imprisonment" under the revised
rules.
AOC Director of Sport Fiona de Jong confirmed the body's new power to have police
checks done and hoped the D'Arcy decision acted as a deterrent for athletes.
"I would like to think so, we wanted to act with our feet in enforcing the values
that should be upheld at the Olympics and with that comes the good and the bad," she
said.
If there has been an upside to the D'Arcy saga it is that it put Australia's
Olympians on their best behaviour at last August's Beijing Olympics.
The troubled swimmer was Beijing-bound before being kicked off the team for
assaulting former swimmer Simon Cowley just hours after earning his ticket to China.
De Jong said levels of media attention on a particular incident could influence the
case of an athlete being selected.
Mountain biker Jongewaard missed out on selection for Beijing and is due to face
court soon over an incident that left his training partner with serious injuries.
And in another incident judoka Matt Celotti left the Australian Olympic team during
the Games after it was revealed he'd been summonsed to face court over an alleged
assault in Melbourne last year. The convoluted appeals process has also been
tweaked with national sporting federations forced to provide written reasons for
their non-selection of aggrieved athletes.
The AOC is confident the move will aid in reducing the number of appeals.
It has also streamlined the appeals process with athletes now just having the
opportunity to go to a national federation's appeals tribunal and then the Court of
Arbitration for Sport.
In an effort to have more independence at the national federation appeals level, two
of the three tribunal members must be selected from an AOC list.
Australia's chef de mission has also been handed the power to instantly terminate an
athlete's participation at the Games.