Australian swimming great IAN THORPE said that although Olympic champions "can make great role models, sports officials can't expect all athletes to be angels in their pursuit of results," according to Sudipto Ganguly of REUTERS. The Australian Olympic Committee has "taken a hard line on team culture at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics," four years after its London Games delegation "was embarrassed by a number of unsavoury incidents involving misbehaving athletes." Several athletes have been "put on watch-list ahead of the Games, while the country's top tennis player NICK KYRGIOS withdrew himself from consideration." Thorpe said, "I prefer them to be good leaders but it's not a requirement. We want them to be good role models, we want everyone to be perfect. But what happens if the athlete isn't perfect but they get the results? Which one's more important? This is really difficult and it's a difficult position for sports to be in." AOC Chef de Mission KITTY CHILLER has "spear-headed" the country's culture imperative and "publicly lashed" Kyrgios and his Davis Cup teammate BERNARD TOMIC for poor conduct (REUTERS, 6/21).
