Swimming Australia lose sponsor over Nettlefold scandal

Swimming Australia (SA) has been linked to another scandal that has made their chief sponsor Energy Australia cut ties with them only a year into a lucrative five-year deal.

The sponsorship was worth at least 2 million dollars annually but has been discontinued after SA president Barclay Nettlefold resigned amid claims of inappropriate behaviour, The Age reports.

The report stated that SA started their investigation into Nettlefold after he admitted of making inappropriate comments towards female staff in Adelaide last month and resigned on Sunday.

According to the report, the agreement generated almost half of SA's annual revenue for corporate sponsorship.

The report said that SA suffered another major blow as it was trying to rebuild after Australia's disappointing London Olympic performance corrupted by the Olympic champion Grant Hackett's Stilnox controversy.

SA CEO Mark Anderson said that this is a difficult time for SA and though there are no easy solutions to their problems but they respect the decision of their major sponsor.

Anderson further said that the sport of swimming has been rebuilding since London Games when Australia failed to win an individual Olympic gold medal in the pool since the 1976 Montreal Olympics and a lot is left to be done as events of the last few days have strongly put forth the need for further endemic organizational and cultural change.