D'Arcy to chase spot in swim team

(AAP) - Nick D'Arcy will wrestle with his mental demons this week, chasing a place in the Australian swim team that once again might be taken away from him.

The controversial Queenslander opened up on Sunday about the anguish he suffered
from being kicked off the Beijing Olympic team - just two days out from the world
championships trials in Sydney.
His best chance of booking a trip to Rome comes on Tuesday night, the opening
evening of competition, in his pet event the 200m butterfly,
But he admitted a winning effort could count for nothing as he prepares to cop
punishment for assaulting ex-swimmer Simon Cowley at his sentencing hearing on March
27.
"If I make the team and then something happens," he said as his voice trailed off.
"Then it is kind of doesn't matter.
"I am just trying to focus on my race."
D'Arcy appeared fairly relaxed at training at Homebush on Sunday, considering the
spotlight that will be back on him during the testing six-day nationals.
He admitted balancing his training with his court appearances and the harsh media
scrutiny had taken its toll at times.
"I feel a lot of expectation on myself," he said.
"I expect the best out of myself and if I am at a training session and I am may be
half a second, one second, two seconds off a time that I think people are expecting
of me.
"Then with the other stuff it is like the last straw and it just wears on me mentally.
"It gets to the point where I am just stressed out in a session and then it is just
falling to pieces.
"I have been just concentrating on just getting it out of my mind."
D'Arcy was "cautiously optimistic" about his prospects in the pool but conceded his
preparation had been affected as he waited on the final verdict of his assault of
Cowley some 12 months ago.
That incident led to him being booted off the Olympic team and D'Arcy said he wanted
to be known for his swimming and not for his thuggish actions.
"I am trying to come here and define myself as a swimmer and the only thing I do
have control over is swimming and that is the image I am trying to portray," he
said.
"With respect to the court issue, it is a very serious issue and I take that very
seriously as well.
"I think just getting on with the job in the pool portrays the right image."
The 21-year-old was surprised that the attention on him hadn't cooled sooner.
But then again that is the lot of an athlete in a sport where the focus only comes a
few times a year.
"To be honest I thought it would have died away pretty quickly with most of this
kind of stuff when people get attention for all the wrong reasons," he said.
"For me it has kind of hung around."
He made no guarantees about his possible post-race celebrations despite his
wild-eyed theatrics on earning a spot to Beijing last year being regularly
reprinted.
"At the end of the race I will just do whatever I feel is appropriate," he said.
"I will not be thinking `Oh gee I better not do that because it might offend some
people'.
"But at the same time if it doesn't feel appropriate, I won't be doing it."