Sunshine Coast swimmer Nick D'Arcy has had a local sports star award withheld from him until the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) rules on assault allegations against him.
D'Arcy qualified to go to the Beijing Games to compete in the 200 metres butterfly, but he has been charged with the assault of former swimmer Simon Cowley.
The AOC is still to decide whether he will be allowed to attend the Games.
D'Arcy won the Sunshine Coast Sports Star award for March but Advance Sports president Benny Pike says it will not be presented until a decision is made on D'Arcy's future.
"If the AOC deem that he hasn't brought the sport into disrepute or whatever the reading is and he does go to Beijing well then he does qualify, it's as simple as that," he said.
Mr Pike says his organisation was left with little choice but to withhold the award.
"We must stick to our criteria and our criteria is about fostering and promoting sport," he said.
"Our selection process is based on what they do in the pool, out of the pool, in the ring, on the track... it's about sport and sport alone."
Source: By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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