Australian swimmer Mack Horton got the licence from authorities to express his individual views and ended up, unwittingly, putting his foot in his mouth. Photo / AP
Australian swimmer Mack Horton got the licence from authorities to express his individual views and ended up, unwittingly, putting his foot in his mouth. Photo / AP
My guess is swimmer Mack Horton probably wishes he'd kept his trap shut from the word go but turning his back to the TV camera with a goofy smile when an interviewer grilled him this week is as dumb as it gets.
Not only did Horton embarrass himself but he also has shoved his birth country of Australia into another void of sporting deception. In doing so, he has tarnished the image of swimming in the same way that cycling carries the stigma every time the Tour de Farce comes around.
When I first heard of the 23-year-old gold medallist refusing to scramble on to the podium during the Fina world swimming championship in Gwangju, South Korea, more than a week ago, I thought a pretty big call for an Aussie considering how much angst their men's cricket team had caused within the country, never mind globally.
The Melbournite, who had labelled China rival Sun Yang a "drug cheat", had also declined to shake hands or pose for photos with the 400m freestyle gold medal winner.
Ironically Horton discovered this week it can get bitterly cold when one starts taking the moral high ground on the podium despite the warm support he had garnered among some quarters, including the likes of Aussie legend Dawn Fraser.
That's because compatriot Shayna Jack had tested positive for the non-steroidal anabolic agent, Ligandrol, in the lead-up to the world champs.
While Swimming Australia had withdrawn Jack from the Aussie squad bound for the worlds due to "personal reasons" it had not disclosed she was undergoing a litmus test until the competition had almost run its course.
Whether the Australian body had taken that stance on advice of Fina so as not to jeopardise the worlds remains to be seen, but the country cannot sidestep the issue that its sport culture is fostering pretty undesirable traits. Jack now claims she had approached Swimming Australia several times to disclose her details but had been knocked back.
Frankly had Horton not let his personal agenda run wild then Australia would have dealt with Jack's case in a routine manner to avoid the global glare.
Shayna Jack (left) celebrates a 4x 100m golden moment with Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon and Bronte Campbell in a world record-breaking time in Gold Coast, Australia, last year. Photo / Photosport
Horton and Yang's hostility dates back to an infantile altercation at the Rio Olympics in 2016 when the former accused the latter of deliberately "splashing him" during a training session.
How that escalated into Horton debasing Yang is astonishing, to say the least, although the latter's four consecutive world gold medals with the Summer Olympics in Tokyo this time next year must be building some pressure on the former.
From what I've read, Yang and his support crew had allegedly smashed vials of blood for testing because the authorities collecting the samples had failed to follow mandatory procedures. A finding had exonerated Yang but it is now under appeal next month.
Now that's a plausible reaction. I have never taken phone or electronic requests for donations towards a charity either. Show up at my doorstep and I will but, please, collectors and meter readers always produce your credentials.
Chinese swimming officials had demanded an apology from Horton following his disparaging remarks in 2016 but the Australian Olympic Committee had reportedly played the card of "he's entitled to express a point of view".
"He has spoken out in support of clean athletes. This is something he feels strongly about and good luck to him," the committee had countered.
Well, the world wants Horton's views on clean athletes now that Jack has come under scrutiny.
Much of the Western media, in particular, had also blindly waded in to echo Horton's sentiments in the "good on yer" mould.
Australia's Mack Horton (left) shunned Sun Yang, of China during the medal ceremony but later posed for photos with bronze medallist Gabriele Detti, of Italy, in South Korea. Photo / AP
Allegations of cheating require substantial evidence beyond reasonable doubt.
Fellow worlds competitor Duncan Scott, of Britain, and American Lilly King, you could argue, were just copycats and one has to wonder what their motivation, in taking a stance for clean sport, was and did they do so with the blessing of their teams and parent bodies.
It does smack of hypocrisy that those who are calling for understanding and gifting Jack some privacy to grapple with her demons didn't seem to have that show of public sympathy and compassion for Yang.
Is the Western world guilty of double standards on the grounds of the "yellow peril" and dodgy Eastern Bloc countries?
One would have thought such prejudices would have been buried in the rubble of the Berlin Wall and washed away in the thawing of the Cold War. Here's the drift — every country has "cheats", just ask All Black Beauden Barrett amid the escape clause of "but everyone does it" (take extra metres before a kick between the posts behind the ref's back).
For the record, Yang was banned for three months after testing positive for a medication used to treat heart conditions without a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) in 2014.
Because the medication trimetazidine had only recently been banned and Yang would be eligible for a TUE for his known heart condition, the mandatory four-year ban was reduced to three months.
Now juxtapose that with Jack lamenting on Instagram: "I did NOT take this substance knowingly."
If Swimming Australia head coach Jacco Verhaeren believes Jack can bounce back to save her career then why is it so hard to fathom perhaps Yang is capable of doing the same.
Suggestions a directive from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority had prevented Swimming Australia from declaring Jack was under investigation sounds like a lot of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo and no different to this part of the world casting aspersions on the credibility of the "baddies".
Fina head honcho Cornel Marculescu has revealed "another two" cases are under scrutiny with Jack's one.
Thomas Fraser Holmes, of Australia, had served a one-year ban for failing on three occasions to be present for mandatory drug tests in 2017. Photo / Photosport
Damningly, in 2017, Thomas Fraser Holmes, of Australia, had received a one-year ban for failing on three occasions to be present for mandatory drug tests — an offence more serious than that of Yang.
Yet he was competing in Gwangju so what on earth were Horton and Verhaeren thinking?
They weren't, it seems. Furthermore, there appears to be a culture of if you can't beat the dopers than join them.
The sceptics will scoff at the entire parody because the biggest losers are not just swimming but sport.
The global network of governing bodies has to take a collective stance on doping — that is, zero tolerance in the face of your Lance Armstrongs, Maria Sharapovas and Shane Warnes of the world.
Test positive and sayonara forever. No excuses because part of every athlete's template must entail a sense of awareness to avoid banned substances.
Launch a "Tainted Games" for those who have no qualms about ingesting performance enhancers, I hear you say.
Nah, it'll only become a game within a game. It'll be like feeding the habit of kleptomaniacs — a dare for culprits to show they can beat the system just for kicks.
