Swimming Australia Releases Statement on Grant Hackett

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Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia

Yesterday Swimming World reported on Grant Hackett‘s alleged involvement in an incident on his flight home from the 2016 Australian National Championships.

Swimming Australia released a statement about the reports. The governing body stated that it supported the legal action being taken, but was also concerned for Hackett’s well being, and plans to support him as it can. Swimming Australia noted that is was pleased with the cultural shift displayed this past week, after struggling with a “toxic” team culture at the London Olympics.

Read the full press release below:

“Swimming Australia was extremely disappointed to hear the disturbing reports that Grant Hackett was involved in a reported incident on a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne on Sunday April 17.

“Given the reported incident involved a member of the general public on a domestic flight, we acknowledge and fully support the role of the police. It is very appropriate that they were immediately involved and continue to investigate this matter. We welcome their involvement and will fully support any findings that they reach as independent and external investigators of the incident.

“The positive week that we witnessed in Adelaide from our team both in and out of the pool is a sign of emerging strong culture. We believe that we have made great progress. With this backdrop we are clearly disappointed that this reported incident has occurred.

“The reported incident was particularly surprising, given the manner in which Grant conducted himself over the duration of the event. This included his interaction with the general public, in and around other swimmers over the competition and his transition into a television commentary role following his last race.

“Swimming President John Bertrand, Chief Executive Officer Mark Anderson, National Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren and General Manager, High Performance, Wayne Lomas have been focused over the past 24 hours to ensure we found out exactly what occurred and to provide the necessary support before making any statements.

“We have been in touch with Grant through his management team and with his family directly.

“Given Grant’s recent experiences, we are concerned for Grant’s welfare and believe that it is very important that we provide Grant with all the support we can provide to ensure his progress as a person remains on track.

“Our main concern at this stage is his welfare. Any other issue or decision remains secondary to his well-being at this point in time. We will address other matters at the appropriate time.

“We have endeavored throughout our cultural development to be very open in our communication and we will continue to do so in relation to this issue and any future decisions that we reach in relation to Grant and his involvement across our sport.

 

Press Release courtesy of Swimming Australia.

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Sarah Hutchinson Koon
7 years ago

This is quite sad to see an athlete struggle. Kudos to Swimming Australia for putting his welfare as a person first. So very important to keep this perspective.

Bill V.
7 years ago

He’s good at flip turns.
Now what?

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