The incident comes as the Herald and Water Safety NZ are again urging Kiwis to stay alive this summer after there were 94 preventable drownings last year.
There’s also been tragic water-related deaths at Auckland’s Narrow Neck Beach, Hawke’s Bay’s Ocean Beach and Auckland’s Rothesay Bay recently.
Nick Tyrrell, general manager of the Olympic Pools and Fitness Centre, said he does not “tolerate any abuse” at the pool, and is taking the matter “extremely seriously” and supporting Zhang and his son.
Zhang said it’s lucky his son is a really good swimmer and only choked on the water because he was shocked.
“(But) if some other kids are not that good at swimming, they might get seriously injured by that dangerous behaviour. It’s completely unacceptable,” Zhang said.
He said the incident took place when his son - who was the faster swimmer - tried to overtake the adult but accidentally bumped into him.
Watching the incident unfold, Zhang went to the adult swimmer once he reached the poolside and asked him why he did it.
He claimed the man started to swear at him and his son, saying: “My ‘f***ing boy’ blocked his way, he couldn’t enjoy swimming. He only ‘grabbed my f***ing boy’s leg and didn’t even punch him’, why should I get so upset”.
Zhang said he’s trying to work with the pool’s management to find out the man’s name and is planning to report him to the police.
He said he plans to take action because while his son is a top swimmer in his age group, he doesn’t want to see other kids who aren’t as strong in the water get hurt, especially if this happens in the ocean.
“Holiday season has started, if somebody behaves like that in the public pools, some kids might get seriously injured or even get killed,” he said.
“I need people to know this, this behaviour is not acceptable.”
Tyrrell said he spoke to Zhang last night and will support him by also helping him make a complaint to police if he wishes.
He said his team also acted immediately to calm the “heated” situation yesterday.
His lifeguards didn’t see the moment the boy’s leg was pulled, said Tyrrell, who wasn’t on duty yesterday.
“But Chris, who is a senior lifeguard, quickly went to Mike, his son and the customer,” Tyrell said.
“Chris said that things were very heated, and he immediately asked the customer to leave the facility.
“This person made a complaint to our front desk about ‘slow swimmers’ in the fast lane.”
Tyrrell now plans to speak to the adult swimmer and has removed his access to the pool until that occurs.
“We do not tolerate any abuse in our facility, and this matter will be dealt with in an extremely serious matter,” he said.
“With serious incidents we need to follow up with both parties before making a large decision.
“It is very much my intention to revoke access for the man involved for unnecessary physical action in our facility.
“As I said, we do not tolerate this behaviour at all, there is no one strike, two strike policy.”
Tyrrell said he and his lifeguards spoke with Zhang and his son yesterday to support them and make sure they were okay.
“We will be co-operating with any action the police wish to take and I have begun a report myself, along with Mike,” he said.
“We hope that Mike’s son continues to swim and enjoy our pool, and that they see the seriousness of our actions as a statement of our health and safety precautions.”
