KEY POINTS:
A controversial photograph of one of New Zealand's Olympic swimmers showed him passed out in a toilet and half-naked.
And what started out as a prank between the swimmer's team-mates became more serious after the photograph started circulating around the wider New Zealand Olympic team.
The Herald on
Sunday can also reveal today that the young swimmer who was photographed, Daniel Bell, had been treating the incident as a joke and initially apologised to his team-mates for his drinking antics.
The revelations have emerged after outraged swimming sources told the Herald on Sunday it was a "gross over-reaction" to discipline three other swimmers so severely over the incident.
Dean Kent, Corney Swanepoel and Cameron Gibson were expelled from the New Zealand Olympic team after they circulated photographs of junior world champion Bell, 18, around the New Zealand Olympic camp.
Sources close to the team said the three swimmers were being unfairly targeted, and outed publicly, while Bell's behaviour was kept "in-house".
Bell and his mother Sheree Rae did not return calls.
"It's a gross overreaction," said a source close to the three expelled swimmers. "He [Bell] was the author of his misfortune. The three boys are decent, experienced and good. The New Zealand Olympic Committee should be thanking these guys for looking after him and making sure he didn't choke on his vomit."
The incident occurred at the Speedo Athletes Party, held at the chic Beijing nightclub Wish. Swimming superstars from around the globe - including Michael Phelps, Stephanie Rice and Ian Thorpe - mingled with the Kiwi athletes the day after the Olympics closing ceremony.
Booze was flowing from the open bar and Bell, who swam the opening backstroke leg in the 4x100m medley relay with Gibson and Swanepoel establishing a new national record and taking out fifth place, disappeared from the party.
Members of the American swimming team later found him slumped in a toilet cubicle. Cleaners unlocked the toilet door where Bell was found with his white jean pants down, no underwear and covered in vomit.
Teammates put Bell into the recovery position and called for medical assistance. "He was unconscious and they argued who was going to clean him up," a source said.
Bell was photographed unconscious and the incriminating photograph was later plastered around the swimming team quarters. But the prank spiralled from an in-house lark to a public relations nightmare after the photograph was slipped under the doors of the wider Kiwi Olympic team.
"They were all laughing about it," the source said. "He [Bell] was laughing about it, but humbled by the whole thing."
New Zealand's Chef de Mission Dave Currie defended his decision to expel Swanepoel, Kent and Gibson from the Olympic Village and make them spend their final night in a Beijing hotel. The trio were not invited to a final team function but flew home in the official Olympic charter plane.
He said a number of sources complained about the "inappropriate" photographs but he would not be drawn on who specifically.
"I'm not uncomfortable with the decision we took that day," Currie said.
"The fact is the prank went a step too far. Now, whatever Daniel's done, that wasn't a respectful thing to do. It [the photo- graph] was plastered over a wide range of the New Zealand part of the village. They all agreed it wasn't a sensible thing to do."
Asked if Bell apologised for putting his team-mates in the situation of looking after him while out cold, Currie replied, "Yes he did.
"That situation was dealt with and we thought he'd done the appropriate thing he needed to do."
Swimming New Zealand is now investigating and will conduct interviews next week.
Olympic veteran Kent, 29, was disappointed with his behaviour but didn't want to dwell on the incident. "It's kind of a stink way to finish. I just kind of want to get on with the rest of my life."
