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The 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships were held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from 22–29 March 2008. The championships were used as the Australian trials for the 2008 Olympic Games squad.

Like all previous Australian swimming trials, the championships program mirrored the 2008 Olympic swimming program with the addition of the non-Olympic events – 50 m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly; 800 m freestyle (men) and 1500 m freestyle (women).

Results

Highlighted swimmers achieved the qualification conditions to be included in the Olympic team in that respective event.

Men's events

Women's events

Olympic team news

Due to strong performances, two additional members were added to the Australian Olympic swim team: Nick Ffrost and Felicity Galvez both finished seventh in their 200 m freestyle events. Additionally, Galvez finished third in the women's 100 m butterfly. This created controversy with freestyler Andrew Mewing appealing his non-selection after finishing 8th with an A qualifying time, whilst Galvez was selected via a B qualifying time, that ranked her 9th in the 200 m freestyle. Mewing lost his appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Adam Lucas finished second in both the 200 m and 400 m individual medley events, but was not selected because he swam a B qualifying time, rather than an A qualifying time. These are the only events on the Australian roster that remain without a second qualifier.

Melissa Gorman failed to meet the qualification time for the 800 m freestyle at the championships themselves, however was included in the team to swim this event after qualifying for the 10 km marathon swimming event.

During the early hours of 30 March 2008, Nick D'Arcy was involved in an altercation with a fellow Australia swimmer, Simon Cowley. He was subsequently charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. On 18 April, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) dropped D'Arcy from its 2008 Olympic team, claiming that the swimmer had brought the team into disrepute. D'Arcy subsequently appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which confirmed the AOC's decision. However, CAS also found that the decision to expel D'Arcy should not have been made solely by the President of the AOC John Coates, but instead by the entire AOC Board. The AOC Board subsequently unanimously decided to withdraw D'Arcy's membership from the team on 11 June 2008. D'Arcy appealed the AOC Board's decision to CAS, which rejected this appeal on 16 June 2008. In March 2009, D'Arcy received a jail sentence of 14 months and 12 days, suspended on condition of good behavior.

See also

• 2008 in swimming

References

• "Meet Results". Archived from the original on 24 March 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2009.

1. "Trent Grimsey, Fastest Across the English Channel, Announces Retirement". Swimming World Magazine. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
2. Murdoch, Alex (24 July 2008). "Melissa Gorman to swim 800m freestyle in Beijing". The Courier-Mail.
3. Ramachandran, Arjun (31 March 2008). "Swimmer charged". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
4. D'Arcy's swim career over: coach Stehr. Published by the Herald Sun on 2008-04-18; retrieved 2010-07-10.
5. Magnay, Jacquelin (28 May 2008). "New blow for Nick D'Arcy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
6. Magnay, Jacquelin (11 June 2008). "D'Arcy out of the Games". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
7. AAP (17 June 2008). "Nick D'Arcy loses final appeal to go to Olympic Games". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
8. Nick D'Arcy handed 14 month suspended sentence for assault by Margaret Scheikowski, The Daily Telegraph. Posted by FOX Sports on 2009-03-27, retrieved 2010-07-10.

• Australian Swimming Championships
• 2008 in swimming
• 2008 in Australian sport
• Sports competitions in Sydney
• 2000s in Sydney