Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk today apologised for posting online a photo of themselves posing with guns at a store in the US. The pair had not intended to cause offence, they noted on arrival back in Australia. It had all been "a bit of fun".

"Foolish" is how Australia's Olympic authorities described the two swimmers, who could now face sanction, some suggesting that they could even forfeit their Olympic berths.

"If anyone's been offended I deeply apologise. It was never the intent, it was never supposed to be offensive," said D'Arcy. 

Monk, who last year said he had been the victim of a hit-an-run driver when in fact an injury had sustained when he fell off his skateboard, put the pictures on his Facebook page but has since taken them down on the orders of Swimming Australia. "I deeply am sorry and I'm sorry if I offended anyone out there," he told reporters.

D'Arcy, who was handed a suspended 14-month jail sentence for the assault, explained: "We got the opportunity to fire a couple of guns which was pretty fantastic to be honest because we don't get that opportunity back home," said D'Arcy. 

Fantastic is a description that will not go down well Down Under. In the US where guns are allowed to be held by citizens, some may consider it all a storm in a tea cup. Elsewhere, school massacres, the tragedy of Norway and many incidents of citizens killing innocent citizens have led society to support a ban on guns for the man on the street.

The statistics from the US make the heart skip a beat. In an average year in Britain, there are about 600 murders. Official FBI statistics for 2010 stated that there were 12,996 murders in the US, of which 8,775 were caused by firearms. 

Asked what the swimmers had done wrong Head of Australia's Olympic mission Nick Green told ABC Radio: "Clearly what it has done is breach a social media guideline that we think is important."

After his assault on Cowley, D'Arcy lost his place on the 2008 team and was barred from the 2009 world titles too.

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