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Australian Olympic swimmers criticized for Facebook gun photo

Two members of the Australian Olympic swim team are under fire for posing with three guns and posting the photo on Facebook.

Swimming Australia demanded Kenrick Monk take down the picture of him and Nick D'Arcy in a California gun shop. He complied.

In the picture, Monk held pump action shotguns that resemble those used in the Port Arthur massacre of 1996, an incident which still stands as one of Australia's deadliest shootings. D'Arcy held a semi-automatic pistol.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph was among the Aussie newspapers to question the decision of the young men. On its Twitter account, the newspaper asked, "Are you offended by this photograph of Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk in a US gun shop?"

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The two young men need no introduction to stupidity. D'Arcy was involved in a brawl on the night the 2008 Australian Olympic team was announced and broke the jaw, nose, eye socket and cheekbone of a teammate. He was kicked off the team but avoided jail for the incident.

The lawyer of the man he punched was surprisingly surprised at D'Arcy's current brush with infamy. "I can't believe it," Sam Macedone told The Age. "Despite all the criticism, he still does things that are stupid."

Monk broke his elbow last September and blamed it on a hit-and-run driver. Four days after filing a police report, he confessed that he had actually fallen off his skateboard. Police didn't charge Monk, calling him a "wannabe B-grade celebrity athlete." (Police in Australia sound sort of awesome.)

"It was all just meant to be a bit of fun, the photos were just a bit of fun," D'Arcy told reporters upon his return to Australia on Friday. "If anyone's been offended I deeply apologize. It was never the intent, it was never supposed to be offensive."

There are reports that the Australian Olympic Committee could keep both swimmers off the team for the "foolish" action that was "clearly inappropriate for members of the 2012 Australian Olympic team."

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