News Round-Up:

Australia: Nick D'Arcy is in the headlines again Down Under, for all the wrong reasons. Get these: "D'Arcy shakes off rivals, not his past"; "Touchy D'Arcy needs to learn some manners"; "D'Arcy told to take deep breath to avoid trouble". A taste of this to come all summer long, the Aussie press indicates today, if the 200m butterfly medal hope at London 2012 fails to understand that when you knock a bloke to the floor, cause him severe harm, land a conviction in court, get told to pay Aus$181,000 in compensation to your victim but declare yourself bankrupt and thus avoid having to foot the bill for your mistake, you'd better learn to be gracious when the questions are raised. D'Arcy was polite enough when talking about his performance at the Irvine meet in California (sick for the 100m, so took the 200m out hard and clocked a 1:57 for a dominant win at the weekend). The mood changed when the stuff the swimmer is sick of talking about (Simon Cowley's probably sick of dealing with what he has had to deal with too - but no getting away from it) cropped up. The question raised, D'Arcy replied: "Careful". He then stopped the media session and brushed past muttering: "Yeah, thanks for your time", according to those there. Careful? Careful of what? It is the swimmer who must be more careful, says coach Michael Bohl, telling Australian reporters: "Nick has to get a strategy or phrase to better get out of those situations so he doesn't get caught up with distractions. Blunt is sometimes just the way he is. There are not many guys who have gone through all he has and come out the other side." On the latter, something similar might be said of Cowley, who has a legal debt in his favour that may never be repaid. A tricky situation for all concerned, including coaches trying to get a world-class athlete to his Olympic blocks in a pugilistic frame of mind of the kind best left in the water.

New Caledonia: At the Oceania Championships in New Caledonia, Australian swimmers dominated proceedings that ended with a mixed relay in which men raced directly against women. Sydney's 1996-born Ami Matsuo, clocked 2:02.67 to win the 200m freestyle; the men's equivalent went to Kenneth To in 1:50.32; Declan Potts won the 200m butterfly in 1:59.06; and the 1500m free produced a tight battle between Jarrod Poort and Trent Grimsey that ended 15:30.68 to 15:32.39 in Poort's favour. The Aussie mixed relay finished a pool apart from others in the race, Grace Loh matched a couple of chaps who will return to training with a greater incentive to work harder before the race took on a ridiculous dimension as a man swam 13sec and more faster than two women on breaststroke. Sport over.

France: Fred Bousquet has spoken to the French media about the hurtful side of being forever seen as "Laure's partner". If the sprinter, who missed the cut for the London 2012 Olympics at trials in March but claimed the European 50m free crown last weekend, would rather be identified for his own achievements, the thing that hurst most is that Manon, daughter of Manaudou and Bousquet, is referred too as "the daughter of Laure Manaudou". Says Bousquet: "I have no identity as 'papa' … it is hard. Especially as a man. If I was more macho, I'd take it really badly."

Italy: Federica Pellegrini, Olympic 200m champion who caused a small storm at home when she missed the cut for the 400m free final in 4:14 at the European championships on Sunday (her 200m times indicate that the world champion over both distances will be fit and fast come the hour), will race one last time before the big one. Mid-June brings a final test at the Sette Colli (Seven Hills) meet at the Foro Italico, scene of her 2009 world-title triumphs in front of a home crowd at a time of shiny suit mayhem. Pellegrini told media at the airport when arriving home from the Euro meet in Hungary: "[we have] two months of very hard training, the Seven Hills race on the way, and for me that's always very nice to do because you get to race at home in the most beautiful pool in the world". 

Spain: Rafael Munoz, world record holder in the non-Olympic 50m butterfly (22.43 at a time of shiny suits in 2009) will race on to a home 2013 world titles despite having missed the cut for London 2012 at his last try over 100m at the European Championships in Hungary last week. Having missed Shanghai 2011 and London 2012, Munoz tells the Spanish media: "I have already missed the big event of the year for the past two [seasons] but it will not happen a third time. I will not be the 'only fool' to be locked out of the world titles when they come to Barcelona."