Australian 200-metre butterfly champion Nick D'Arcy was expelled from the Olympic squad following his arrest last month over a barroom assault that left former Commonwealth Games swimming champion Simon Cowley with severe facial injuries. ( dpa )
Cowley received a broken nose, broken jaw and fractured eye socket just hours after the end of the national Olympic trials in Sydney.
"It's clear that being charged with criminal offences of such a serious nature is sufficient to bring Nicholas and the sport of swimming into disrepute and is likely to bring the team and the AOC into disrepute if he continues to be a member of the team," John Coates, chairman of the Australian Olympic Committee, told reporters.
The AOC decision comes the day D'Arcy is to appear in court on an assault and grievous bodily harm charge.