Dinko Jukic to skip Worlds following dispute with federation

Read NBC Sports and Der Standard

Austrian swimmer Dinko Jukic will reportedly skip the world championships in July and August at Barcelona following an ongoing dispute with his national federation.

“The worlds this year will take place without me,” Jukic was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s online edition of Austrian newspaper Der Standard. “As long as not everything has been cleared, I won’t swim for the federation anymore.”

In August, the federation banned Jukic for 10 months for verbally attacking three of its officials during the European Championships three months earlier. The swimmer was in disagreement with the officials about when to return to Austria after the competition in Debrecen, Hungary.

The suspension led to a wave of negative publicity, prompting federation president Paul Schauer to step down three weeks later.

Jukic successfully fought his suspension in court, but the federation under new president Christian Meidlinger has appealed the verdict and stripped Jukic of his state funding for athletes.

Image courtesy of Manfred Werner – Tsui, CC BY-SA 3.0