Australian swimming great Kieren Perkins says Nick Kyrgios would be too great a distraction to have at the Rio Olympics

OLYMPIC legend Kieren Perkins has joined the push for tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios to be snubbed from Australia’s team for Rio.

When asked whether Kyrgios should be chosen for the August Games, Perkins replied “not with the sort of behaviour he is producing at the moment’’.

“There are more than 300 athletes going to Rio and you just cannot afford to have one who becomes a distraction to officials who have a lot of things to look after,’’ Perkins said.

“There is also the fact that if you let someone like Kyrgios get away with stuff, what sort of message does that send to the other athletes. You don’t want double standards.’’

The sensitive issue of whether Kyrgios goes to Rio is likely to land in the lap of the Australian Olympic Committee’s board who will vote on the matter if Kygrios’ nomination is rejected by the team executive.

Tennis Australia have flagged their intention to nominate Kyrgios in the belief his behaviour in on the improve but those claims have been shot down by his first round blow-up with experienced umpire Carlos Ramos in the French Open when he was given a code violation for shouting at a ball boy.

Perkins, the dual Olympic 1500m champion and one of Australia’s most respected sporting voices, senses that the post-2012 London Games push for improved behaviour counts against Kyrgios’ cause.

“If he was willing and able to create an environment where the sort of behaviour he has at the moment was not going to happen at the Olympics then he might have been a chance,’’ he said..

“But from what I have seen it is not the sort of representation we are looking for at the Olympics.

“At the (Olympic fundraiser in Brisbane) on Saturday we heard Ian Thorpe, James Tomkins, Susie (O’Neill) and Nat (Cook) on stage talking about the responsibility that comes with being an inspiration to the country and how representing Australia at the Olympics is the embodiment of all the good things sports stand for.

“It does not mean we are all perfect. When you are starting from the standpoint of where Kygios’ behaviour is at the moment it is pretty obvious it does not really fit.’’

Perkins was unsure which way the AOC would vote on the issue but added “if he misbehaves again I don’t think they will take him’’.

The AOC executive may also have to rule on shooter Michael Diamond, who has had his gun licence suspended as he faces charges of driving with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, as well as being in possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.

Diamond is now considered a highly unlikely starter for what would have been his seventh Games. Even if he was chosen by Shooting Australia, it is likely the AOC would block his selection.

His selection was already under question due to an appeal by 17-year-old Mitchell Iles over his omission from the original squad.

The appeal will be held soon in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/australian-swimming-great-kieren-perkins-says-nick-kyrgios-would-be-too-great-a-distraction-to-have-at-the-rio-olympics/news-story/581d254409da314280ace32f4d8332ee

Nick Kyrgios pulls out of Rio 2016 after row with Australian Olympic Committee

Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of Rio 2016, accusing the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) of "unfair and unjust treatment" and "unwarranted attacks".

Kyrgios, 21, joins compatriot Bernard Tomic in withdrawing from the Games.

AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller had said the pair were "on watch" because of their behaviour.

The world number 19 said he had pulled out with "a heavy heart" as the "AOC has chosen to publicly and privately disparage me".

In a statement on his official website, he added: "AOC's unfair and unjust treatment of me over the last four weeks, as well as the organisation's crystal clear position on whether they want me to be a part of the Australian Olympic team, has solidified my final decision."

Kyrgios received a code violation for shouting at a ball boy and was fined for an audible obscenity during his third-round defeat by Richard Gasquet at the French Open.

He was given a suspended 28-day ban and fined by the Association of Tennis Professionals last year for making lewd remarks about Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend during a match.

Tennis Australia president Steve Healy said: "We understand Nick's decision and totally support him and his right to make it. But we are very disappointed that he has been put in this position."

In a statement on the AOC's official website, Chiller said: "At this point, Nick Kyrgios, or any other tennis athlete, has not been nominated for selection on the Australian Olympic team.

"In regard to selection every athlete in contention is treated equally and fairly."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/36442098

Australian Olympic Committee pushed Nick Kyrgios over the edge and it’s time to fix it

THE Australian Olympic Committee and its outspoken Rio team chief Kitty Chiller shouldn’t get to have it both ways over Nick Kyrgios.

After meeting the young tennis player down on his level of discourse for most of the last month — trading tough words in the public domain — Chiller clammed up as Kyrgios was taken to an inevitable end game on Friday, deciding to rule himself out of the Rio Games.

“Unfortunately, while I have expressed every intention of trying to win a medal for my country in Rio, it’s very clear to me that the Australian Olympic Committee has other plans,” Kyrgios wrote in a statement on his website.

He spoke of the AOC’s “unfair and unjust treatment”, and considering their silence over other potential Olympians facing pre-Games strife, his point is undeniable.

“While I have received assurances from Tennis Australia that I will be nominated for the Olympic team, the AOC has chosen to publicly and privately disparage me. Not one member of the AOC has reached out to me, my family, my team, or representatives of Tennis Australia, asking for a meeting or the opportunity to discuss their concerns.”

Kyrgios is an emotional athlete whose on-court actions point to a complex view of authority.

He was happy to go to the edge with Chiller, whose tough statements were clearly a matter of choice.

She gave him the push, with comments over the past month that were, if not designed to push him further from the Olympic Games team, certainly had that effect.

He’s not everyone’s cuppa — and there’s not much that a brash young millionaire athlete in a fish bowl sport would share in common with a 51-year-old former modern pentathlete. And Chiller’s Olympic experience has clearly shaped her opinion of who is the right kind of Olympian and who isn’t. At the Sydney Olympics she was forced to escape the rampant party animals of the athletes village to find a few fractured hours of sleep in a medical room at 2am the night before she finished 14th.

Different eras, different experiences and different levels of maturity. Yet Chiller has engaged Krygios at his level.

There has been much to like about her work this year. She has spoken loudly and often, pushing the Olympic message. One Olympics insider told me he couldn’t remember more chatter this far out from a Games since Sydney, due to her efforts. Most of that chatter, though, has been at the expense of public whipping boys Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.

Chiller started this by publicly commenting on his suitability for the Olympic team and saying he was being watched.

When he responded — and only with a modicum of cheekiness, suggesting she watch an outrageous shot he played on court — she wouldn’t let it ride.

“We’ve had nothing official apart from some ill-advised comments about me and what it means to be an Olympian. I think some of Nick’s comments in social media in the past week shows he doesn’t really understand what it means to be an Australian Olympian,” Chiller said.

“As with any athlete. There are a couple of athletes on notice. Nick has just come off a suspended sentence from his International Tennis Federation. Any athlete that has just had a disciplinary action from their international federation is on watch.”

Those comments were a tactical and political error, a view as much as confirmed on Friday when Kyrgios played his card that cost an intrigued Australian public of the chance to see him in an Olympics, a sporting event a huge part of our country reveres.

And then after all the back and forth, and the tough talk, Chiller hid behind blandness.

A prepared AOC statement — with emphasis on “prepared” but carrying Chiller’s name if not her natural voice — washed its hands of Kyrgios.

“At this point, Nick Kyrgios, or any other tennis athlete, has not been nominated for selection on the Australian Olympic Team.

“In regard to selection every athlete in contention is treated equally and fairly.

“We have no further comment on this issue.”

He’s not our problem.

It’s the approach Chiller should have taken with Kyrgios from the start, and there’s no doubt her superiors at the AOC wish she had. Kyrgios was never part of her problem until named on the Olympic team, yet she made him just that.

It’s the approach Chiller and the AOC hierarchy have taken with hockey star Anna Flanagan, who allegedly covered up a drink driving charge, and Olympic champion Michael Diamond who faces court next week on a range of drink driving and firearms charges.

The question is why Chiller chose one path with them and quite another with Kyrgios, disparaging and upsetting the player and Tennis Australia even though he had yet to be nominated for the team.

It is an error that could deprive Australia of a medal but more than that, an athlete who can help make the Olympics more relevant to Australian sports fans. She should find a way to put it right.

Kyrgios says the AOC hasn’t spoken to him, nor Tennis Australia, about his potential participation in Rio. As hard as it would be for Chiller to stomach, she needs to do that now.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/olympics/australian-olympic-committee-pushed-nick-kyrgios-over-the-edge-and-its-time-to-fix-it/news-story/70cb326d160daa360af65fcaa0136033

I found a rather telling statement from Raelene Boyle.

"I'm not sure what the IOC (International Olympic Committee) is trying to do with these sports, but I just think it is sad for the other athletes when you get third- and fourth-grade athletes winning gold silver and bronze medals," Boyle said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-03/nick-kyrgios-to-regret-rio-olympics-withdrawal-raelene-boyle/7476130

The debate about whether sports like tennis should be in the Olympics might be fair enough. But her comments afterwards say it all. She thinks of tennis players and athletes from various other sports as "third- and fourth-grade athletes".

What a shocking person she is.

They'll probably be very strict in terms of their carrying out tests (making it difficult for athletes to get away with).

As is the case at every Olympics & every Tour de France......

Are you in a position to say that? How much do you know about WADA procedure?

Nick Kyrgios handed bad behaviour letter by Australian Olympic Committee: Kitty Chiller


Nick Kyrgios handed bad behaviour letter by Australian Olympic Committee: Kitty Chiller

"[They] received exactly the same letter that Nick Kyrgios did," Chiller said. "Admittedly, Nick's letter was 16 pages long. Theirs wasn't quite that long."
Kyrgios dramatically pulled out of contention for Rio on Friday, citing "unfair and unjust treatment" by the AOC, which he said had launched "unwarranted attacks" against him and had "chosen to publicly and privately disparage me". He said no one from the governing body had sought a meeting "to discuss their concerns".

A defiant Chiller rejected accusations Kyrgios had been targeted, said she had received support from across Australian sport for her stance on athlete behaviour generally and suggested Kyrgios would regret excluding himself from contention.
"I was surprised actually because, contrary to what was in his statement, we had reached out to him," Chiller said.
"He received a letter on the 30th of May, on Monday last week, asking him to basically please explain, to explain his side of the story. So we had reached out to get that from him. He chose to not respond to that and to withdraw. So, ultimately, it's his decision.
"We didn't unfairly target anyone. Anyone who makes a disclosure in their team membership agreement, which Nick did and other athletes and other officials have also done, they're treated consistently, they're treated fairly. Other athletes received exactly the same letter that Nick Kyrgios did."
Chiller said the letter outlined "the instances where we felt it could be perceived he had brought himself or the sport into disrepute and his was 16 pages long".
"I'm disappointed when any athlete doesn't understand what it means to be an Olympian," she said.
"I think it's something that in later years, if he doesn't get the opportunity to go to another Games, that he will very much regret it. I'm disappointed that an athlete of clearly so much talent and so much potential – you know, he is an incredible tennis player – I would love to see someone like that playing with the Australian Olympic crest on them. But I would also want that athlete to understand what it means and to respect the values of that being an Olympian means.
"Someone needs to stand up. Why I'm doing this is, we fought long and hard for the last three years to establish a set of behaviours for our team in Rio. There were comments after London that we didn't do that as well as we could. And we've worked really hard. And it's resonated with the athletes. The support that I've had from athletes and from team leaders and from sports has been incredible. I'm doing this for the 428 other athletes that we will have in Rio."
Chiller said that if Kyrgios changed his mind, he would have until June 17 to respond to the letter, as originally specified. The AOC executive would then "determine whether indeed he had brought himself, the sport or the Olympic movement into disrepute". Flanagan and Diamond face the same procedure, she said.
Meanwhile, Chiller said she respected golfer Jason Day's decision to miss the Games.
"Jason's been very clear that it's for medical reasons," she said. "I would love to see Jason there, but we fully understand if that's a decision he can't take."

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics/rio-2016/nick-kyrgios-handed-bad-behaviour-letter-by-australian-olympic-committee-kitty-chiller-20160604-gpbnj3.html

Rio Selection Sets Up James Magnussen For The Ultimate Redemption Story

One last shot for the 'Missile'

James Magnussen is off to the Rio Olympics after all, after world swimming's governing body FINA confirmed Australia's quota spot in the 4x100m freestyle relay overnight.

Magnussen missed Rio Olympics selection in his favoured individual events, the 50m and 100m freestyle, at the Australian Olympic trials in Adelaide in April. At that stage, the relay team had not yet qualified, and it appeared his Olympic dream might be over.

Now 25, the hulking, almost two-metre tall swimmer from Port Macquarie was the emblem of Australia's failure in London on both the behavioural and swimming front. He was involved in the Stilnox scandal before the games, and carried himself with a little too much swagger for most people's tastes.

When he missed gold in the 100m freestyle in London by just one hundredth of a second, it all seemed to make sense. A longer fingernail and the whole narrative would have been different. But what happened happened. To the humble go the spoils. And this bloke was the opposite of that.

...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/06/06/rio-selection-sets-up-james-magnussen-for-the-ultimate-redemptio/

The preach from this Chiller person is ridiculous. 16 page letter?