- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
There Will Be No Overall Swimmer of the Year In Australia As Bosses Go ‘Inclusive’
- Updated: October 24, 2016
Swimming Australia will grant no overall federation “Swimmer of the Year” in 2016 at the end of a season in which four of the the nation’s five big shots at Olympic gold missed the podium altogether in Rio, where young guns Mack Horton and Kyle Chalmers stole the Dolphin show with solo victories over 400m and 100m freestyle respectively. The move is being made in the name of “inclusive” practice at the pointy end of a business that is, by its very competitive nature, exclusive.
In a statement from Swimming Australia, CEO Mark Anderson, says: “In the past, the Swimmer of the Year Awards has recognised the different disciplines individually but also awarded an overall winner. For us it is not necessary to compare our swimmers across the disciplines but rather to celebrate each one equally. As a result we have removed the overall Swimmer of the Year Award and will celebrate our very best Olympic, Paralympic & Open Water Swimmers in their own category.”
Anderson adds: “Swimming is one of Australia’s most inclusive sports but we are always striving to do better and we want to continue to ensure our sport remains a leader for inclusive practise.”
Whether celebrating “each one equally” is the way to achieve winning gladiators in the cauldron of Olympic sport is open to debate, though some will see merit in breaking up sports that are wholly different entities, not only in terms of the sports themselves but in terms of the participation and popularity of those sports.
Where Words Can Matter
Australia’s removal of an overall award appears to leave some anomalies in place: there’s an Age Group Coach of the Year, and Open Water Coach of the Year, a Paralympic Program Coach of the Year and an Olympic Program Coach of the Year but no “Swimming Coach of the Year”.
It may well be that a swimming coach wins the day but that is not spelled out.
Beyond that, there is an Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year, a Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year but the Olympic status is played down when it comes to open water swimming, the title of the prize “Open Water Swimmer of the Year”.
Mack Horton of Australia – by PBK
Kyle Chalmers by Patrick B. Kraemer
The prizes will be handed out at the Swimming Australia Gala Dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday, November 6 at the end of the national short-course championships.
The Awards to come include:
Swimmer’s Swimmer brought to you by Hancock Prospecting Age Group Coach of the Year Open Water Coach of the Year Hancock …
