Melbourne, Aug 15 (ANI): Australian rugby star Quade Cooper has come to the defense of swimming bad boys Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk after photos of the pair enjoying a luxury holiday in Europe emerged.
LondonNow discovered photos posted on Facebook by Monk on Sunday before a social media ban on the pair ended - show them enjoying the sun and sea on a luxury yacht with other friends.
The photos were the subject of major discussion on social media and breakfast television this morning, with opinion divided on whether the pair had done anything wrong.
Cooper, the former boyfriend of swimmer Stephanie Rice, led a chorus of support for D'Arcy and Monk, who were ordered by the Australian Olympic Committee to return to Australia immediately after competing at the London Games, following an earlier scandal involving pictures of the pair holding guns.
"Can't believe the morning show are having a go at the swimmers for having a holiday....," News.com.au quoted Cooper as tweeting.
Twitter user NathD then challenged Cooper's stance, saying: "No offence @QuadeCooper but Australia were piss poor at this years olympics #noshow".
Cooper replied: "You miss the point of how hard they work."
A spokeswoman for Swimming Australia said no protocols had been breached, adding that it was the AOC who placed the ban on the pair.
D'Arcy and Monk were banned from using social media until the end of the Games, but that appears to have been ignored with the posting of these photos.
The pair are understood to have told AOC officials they were going to holiday with their families, but have instead met up on the Croatian island of Hvar.
The photos on the luxury boat appear to fly in the face of D'Arcy's financial situation, but Cooper also denied the swimmer was scheming the system.
"Who said he paid for the trip sir? He's bankrupt obviously he didn't pay...../," Cooper tweeted in response to another question directed at him.
D'Arcy declared himself bankrupt in 2011 after a court ordered him to pay former teammate Simon Cowley 180,000 dollars in damages after D'Arcy hit him at a nightclub in 2008.
Cowley's lawyer Sam Macedone said D'Arcy's new travel arrangements should never have been allowed.
"If he has been given permission to go on a holiday, I want to know why," Macedone said.
"I understand the trustee gave his permission to go to the Olympic Games to try to win a gold medal, but that is it.
"The fact that he's gone from London to Croatia, to me is totally against his travel conditions," he added. (ANI)
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