Cricket scandal to put spotlight on swimmers

HEAD coach Jacco Verhaeren concedes the Australian swimming team’s culture will be scrutinised at the Commonwealth Games following cricket’s cheating scandal.

Public outrage over the ball tampering saga and the rotten culture within Australia’s Test team will have a flow-on effect at the Games, with our love affair with sport and veneration of athletes as role models likely to be closely monitored. As Australia’s highest-profile Olympic sport, swimming — and its team members — will be in the spotlight.

“I think the swim team is pretty much under the magni- fier already,” Verhaeren said. “But definitely this [ensures] the Australian public look critically to not only performance but also behaviours.”

Verhaeren was appointed head coach in 2013 as swim- ming emerged from a cultural overhaul after the disastrous 2012 London Olympics.

While he was not part of that team, Verhaeren earnt his fair share of criticism following the 2016 Rio Games, where some of the team’s biggest names failed to fire.

“It would be naive to think that nobody would ask [about how the cricket scandal might affect swimming],” Verhaeren said. “It’s something big in Australian sport and world- wide.’’ Verhaeren said the athletes were aware “that we’re being critically followed”.

Swimming Australia faced a review after the London Olympics, resulting in a team Verhaeren described as one with great “cohesion”.

“Sometimes with 100 people [in your care], it’s almost likely that someone will do something that you might regret and I think that doesn’t reflect the whole team’s behaviour,” he said.

It’s almost likely that someone will do something that you might regret ... I think that doesn’t reflect the whole team’s behaviour.