Nick D'Arcy tells of the wake-up call that has helped him evaluate his life

NICK D'Arcy has come across some confronting situations. Such as the young boy who burnt his entire throat and stomach in a suicide attempt by swallowing caustic soda.

Or the man who also wanted to end his life and put his forehead into a circular saw three times, each gouge deeper than the last.

These were the horrific and depressing scenarios that D'Arcy faced in the first few days in his new life as a trainee radiographer in the trauma centre at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

But for D'Arcy, it's better than the alternative he faced less than 12 months ago.

"I was fully prepared to go to jail," D'Arcy told The Daily Telegraph. "My lawyers said it was a definite possibility. So I had to be prepared for it. You can't just walk in and think nothing is going to happen to you because that is just naive.

"It was a very heavy situation.

"It was a life-changing situation.

"It forced me to grow up, it forces you to put things into perspective and it forces you to evaluate the things that you find important in life.

"That is when I found pursuing my academic goals is just as important as my swimming goals."

For the first time in a long time, D'Arcy is able to relax and talk about the dramatic life he has led for the past two years.

Sitting in a quiet Italian cafe on the Mooloolaba beachfront, this is not the same Nick D'Arcy who punched Simon Cowley in a nightclub two years ago, starting a chain reaction that would change both of their lives forever.

Cowley suffered horrific facial injuries - fractures to his jaw, eye socket, cheekbone and nose - and required extensive surgery.

Labelled a thug, a spoilt brat and unworthy of ever representing Australia again, D'Arcy accepts that there will be people who will never forgive him for his drunken actions. But he is now a very different person trying to make amends. Respectful, polite and honest, he talks realistically about himself and his life.

He invited The Daily Telegraph into his parents' waterfront home on the Sunshine Coast, even joked how we should know the address as we had camped on his doorstep enough times. He won't ever forget about that fateful night when he punched Cowley at an Olympic team selection after-party, but he has certainly matured and moved on with his life.

"The people who don't like me I don't think will ever like me," he said. "I'm trying to do the best that I can, I'm trying to be a role model, I'm trying to get medals and I'm trying to do all the right things but, realistically, that's probably not going to be enough. Hopefully it does change some people's minds, but at the end of the day that's not my main goal."

D'Arcy's dual focus is to swim for Australia again and pursue a career in medicine. He is now a full-time student at Queensland University of Technology, studying Bachelor of Applied Science Medical Imaging.

He started the course full-time last year and despite facing court for assault midway through 2009, he still managed to achieve high distinctions in every subject. In January this year he undertook clinical placement, a 40-hour working week at the hospital in Brisbane where he witnessed those upsetting injuries. He treated assault victims and perpetrators, but it was working with burns victims or young children in the spinal ward that were the most upsetting. "I think for me it gave me an opportunity to look back on my life and realise how lucky I am," D'Arcy said.

Throughout his work placement, D'Arcy kept swimming with Michael Bohl in Brisbane and maintained 10 sessions covering 73km for the week, plus two gym and one cross-training exercise. Over four weeks he missed just one swim session because he'd been up until 1am the night before completing a report.

D'Arcy is so committed to his studies, he'd rather skip a swim session than a cram session.

"It would play more on my mind if I stuffed up a test than it would if I missed a session in the pool," he said.

"My academic pursuits are just as important to me as my sport, which is something that has been ingrained in me from my parents."

But the big reason D'Arcy now puts such an emphasis on his studies is because of what happened last year.

He accepted his Olympic fate almost immediately, but he was completely blindsided and devastated to be kicked off the 2009 world championship team.

He doesn't want this story to portray him as a victim. He knows he has done wrong and has accepted every punishment that has come his way, but the way he was treated still doesn't sit comfortably.

Swimming Australia board members personally congratulated him on pooldeck at last year's trials and wished him well in Rome, only to unanimously vote to kick him off the team once his legal fight concluded.

To compound the situation, SA leaked the decision to the media not hours, but days before they planned to tell D'Arcy. He was at university and fielded five phone calls from journalists during his lectures asking how he felt not to be going to Rome before he could talk to SA.

When he finally spoke to someone at SA, all he was told was that there was a letter in the mail.

Most thought that disappointment would end D'Arcy's swimming career. But his father Justin suspected it would take more than that to break his son's resolve.

"I think they came pretty close to stopping him ... but they needed to try a little bit harder to stop Nick. He is a very determined young man," said Justin D'Arcy.

D'Arcy's response to the setback was to set short-term goals and 2010 is full of them. He has the national trials starting March 16, then Pan Pacs in August and Commonwealth Games in October, not to mention short course events.

But there are still obstacles to overcome.

Even though their son is the No. 1 200m butterflyer in Australia, D'Arcy's parents are yet to make travel plans for the Commonwealth Games or Pan Pacific Championships at Irvine California.

D'Arcy may win gold at this month's trials and qualify for those teams, but his seat on the plane won't be confirmed until he receives a US visa. D'Arcy has a meeting with US immigration officials shortly after the trials, but with a criminal conviction for the assault of Cowley against his name there is a strong chance he may be denied entry. If he can't race at the Pan Pacs, he can't go to the Commonwealth Games either.

"Getting a visa is going to be a tough ask," said father Justin.

"If he doesn't get the US visa to compete at the Pan Pacs he can't compete at the Commonwealth Games and I suspect it will all be over then and he will settle for his university pursuits. These things aren't going to crush and destroy Nick. He will just pick up the pieces and pursue a university career."

It's why D'Arcy won't rely on swimming for fulfilment. He no longer takes the sport for granted, because he knows it can be easily taken away from him like it was in 2008, again in 2009, and when pneumonia ruined his 2007 world championships campaign.

"I took a lot of stuff for granted ... until that was taken away from me I didn't realise how much it meant to me, competing for your country, competing overseas with your friends," he said.

D'Arcy's parents, coach and friends can see a personal transformation. "Nick is unrecognisable to how he was two years ago," said Justin.

"The person you saw two years ago might as well have a different haircut and different look because it's just not the same person.

"Even if he is welcomed back into the Olympic team with open arms, D'Arcy may yet turn away if his sporting dream conflicts with his first year of professional development as a radiographer. "I've always thought this would be my biggest year [in swimming]," he said.

"If I'm going to do something I want to do it this year. It just comes down to whether or not I believe I can get a good result at the Olympic Games. If I believe I can get a good result I'm going to do it 100 per cent because that will repay my parents, my friends and everyone who stood behind me."