KEY POINTS:
Now that a two-year ban has been imposed on Alinghi crewman Simon Daubney after a positive test for metabolites of cocaine during the last America's Cup, the question can be raised again: why did it take so long for the test to emerge in the first place?
Consider
the timeline. The testing was performed on June 23, 2007, the first day of racing at the Valencia regatta. Testing was apparently not completed until July 9 (when the racing had finished) and the results were not made public until September 29 - and then only because an Italian newspaper broke the story.
That's a gap of over three months and who knows how long it would have been before the news was out if it not for that newspaper.
No one has ever come out and accused anyone of a cover-up. But such a long pause is not a good look for the America's Cup.
There is no suggestion that the drugs would have enhanced Daubney's performance in the Cup. But, as this is the first positive drugs test in the long history of the America's Cup and maybe in the entire history of international yachting, it does raise some intriguing issues.
Conspiracy theorists could have a field day with this saga. Alinghi has a 100 per cent owned subsidiary called America's Cup Management (ACM) which was responsible for running the regatta in Valencia last year.
All positive drugs tests have to be reported somewhere. Presumably ACM would have to know. ACM is, effectively, Alinghi.
Daubney's suspension after the test (he was reinstated when cleared by the America's Cup jury in the original hearing) was lifted by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) after the Swiss Olympic Association also ruled that Daubney hadn't breached any anti-doping rules. That led to WADA's appeal against Daubney's clean sheet.
Switzerland is Alinghi's home base. See the threads of conspiracy at which the theorists might be tempted to tug?
There has never been serious thought that a race or races should be re-sailed or that the result of the regatta was in doubt. The worst that could have happened was that Daubney could have been stood down pending the test results.
Only that didn't happen because no one knew about it.
The key question is why. Could it have been an administrative oversight, maybe? Or were there darker forces at work? If so, who were they and what was their motivation? We may never know.
The CAS and WADA look into the Daubney case was predicated upon legal principles - not who knew what and when.
Whatever the reason for the delay, it is plain that the ISAF (under whose banner the Cup is held) and those running the Cup need to improve their drugs response strategy.
Or, particularly when a tough penalty like a two-year ban is handed down, they will have to suffer the consequences of the suspicions of conspiracy theorists and doubters.
