Lifesaver alleges Nick D'Arcy broke his nose

ANOTHER battered face has come back to haunt disgraced swimming star Nick D'Arcy and put further pressure on his place in the Australian Olympic team.

One of Australia's leading surf lifesavers, Tim Peach, claims he was left with a broken nose and severe bruising after a fight with D'Arcy outside a Sunshine Coast nightclub 18 months ago.

Peach alleged he was knocked to the ground by D'Arcy during an argument over a girl "and blacked out".

"The photos speak for themselves," Peach said.

D'Arcy yesterday stopped short of apologising for a separate incident in a Sydney nightclub on Sunday morning that left former swimming champion Simon Cowley with a shattered eye socket, nose and jaw.

D'Arcy, 20, who has been charged with assault and causing grievous bodily harm and faces a maximum jail term of 10 years, yesterday described the incident with Cowley as an "unfortunate isolated incident".

Peach, who was forced to take a week off work to recover from his injuries, said he did not press charges and was reimbursed a week's salary by D'Arcy's father Justin.

He said he now felt guilty about not pursuing the matter with police after seeing what had happened to Cowley.

"It was pretty horrible how I looked," Peach told The Sunshine Coast Daily News.

But sources close to D'Arcy said the national butterfly champion had not instigated the fracas and should not be held completely responsible for Peach's injuries.

Admitting that he was "pretty drunk" on the night of September 9, 2006, Peach said he was in a line with D'Arcy waiting to get into a Mooloolaba nightclub when the pair began "mouthing off at each other. We had a bit of history over a girl".

The dispute spilled on to the other side of the road where Peach claims he was struck and blacked out.

The next morning, Peach and a friend confronted D'Arcy and his parents at their home.

Peach said he was impressed with the attitude of Justin D'Arcy, a surgeon, who promptly organised X-rays of his broken nose and cash reimbursement for his time off work.

A friend of Peach's said yesterday he had photographed the lifesaver's injuries hours after the incident.

"This wasn't just a smack in the mouth," he said. "He was in real bad shape and at that stage I thought a few blokes had got stuck into him."

A joint panel of the Australian Olympic Committee and Swimming Australia met lawyers for the first time yesterday as part of an investigation into Sunday's incident, which happened just hours after D'Arcy was named in the Australian team for the Beijing Olympics.

It is believed a final decision on whether D'Arcy will be dumped from the squad will be left with the head of the AOC, John Coates.

Olympic sources said yesterday "everyone involved wants this to be resolved as quickly as possible".

Swimming Australia this week offered D'Arcy psychological counselling and public relations support.

Cowley remained at his family's Sylvania home, in southern Sydney, yesterday.

His father Peter refused to comment at length about his son's condition, but said it would require further treatment.

"He hasn't had the operation yet. It will happen later in the week," he said.

D'Arcy, who established an Australian record in the 200m butterfly last week, has been granted conditional bail and ordered to appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on April 21.

The incident has split the swimming community.

Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser has supported calls for D'Arcy to remain in the team until the issue is finalised in the courts, but former world record-holder Kieren Perkins said he should be dropped. (source)