No gold medal for our swim officials
ONE of the perils of writing to a deadline about current affairs is that stories can change.
It’s not often that they change at the exact moment an article is published, but that’s what happened last Sunday when the biggest sports story of the previous week – Mack Horton’s pointed snubbing of the accused Chinese drug cheat Sun Yang – was overshadowed by revelations the Australian swimming team might be home to its own drug cheat, too.
Having written this column last week in defence of Horton’s right to protest, and the baseless indignation of China in bristling at his conduct, I spent much of last Sunday shaking my head in disbelief at the fact Swimming Australia had been sitting on its own juicy scandal that would make us look like a nation of hypocrites.
While the criticisms of Yang and China still stand, the galling thing about Swimming Australia is that, if the worst of what’s being claimed is true, this organisation has damaged our reputation to the point ON 20 YEARS SINCE THE DEATH OF NT POLICE SERGEANT GLEN HUITSON
My late mother was one of the paramedics first on scene for the Sgt. I remember vividly how this moment changed her life forever. First responders are without a doubt true heroes. RIP Sgt. Craig Swan
I remember it well, he was attending an accident I was in prior to going there. He gave us a lift back into Adelaide River and then took off to help with the Crocodile Dundee siege on the highway. Janette Norton where we no longer have any moral authority to lecture anyone about the doping question.
The swimmer in question is Shayna Jack, a 20-year-old Queenslander who has tested positive twice to the non-steroidal anabolic agent Ligandrol.
Jack denies she knowingly took the drug, having initially cited personal reasons for leaving last month’s swimming ti
I drove through that roadblock that morning, RIP. Christopher Ham He will not be forgotten though. Sharon Mangold ON TERRITORIANS LIVING SHORTER LIVES THAN PEOPLE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
No mention of those social harm inducing illicit substances like mouthwash or nail polish remover or the apex of them all – soy sauce. Peter ON A 5M CROC SNEAKING UP ON A MAN PRUNING TREES ON HIS BLOCK
I am now going to have nightmares. Forget feckin rabbit tles in South Korea, only to have her positive drugs test leaked to the media last weekend.
Through her lawyer, she has argued she inadvertently took a contaminated legal supplement, which will form the basis of her defence at the ASADA hearing, with a career-ending, four-year ban hanging over her head.
The manner in which Swimming Australia has conducted itself since these revelations deserves harsh scrutiny.
It seems to me that the organisation – which is run by adults – has badly let down not one but two of the young athletes in its apparent care.
The first of these is Mack Horton, who has every right to feel like he was hung out to dry and made to look a hypocrite by making such a bold antidoping statement when Swimming Australia was sitting on a dirty little secret of its own.
The second is Shayna Jack, who is entitled to a fair and unbiased hearing but whose credibility suffered a pre-emptive blow via an extraordinary letter sent to all Aussie swimmers and their parents by Swimming Australia chief executive Leigh Russell.
To be clear, there are two versions of events at play here.
Swimming Australia insists it could not say anything about Jack’s case ahead of the finalisation of the ASADA investigation.
“Under the process, all details are required to remain confidential until ASADA has completed its investigations, the athlete is afforded due process and an outcome determined,” Ms Russell said last Saturday.
Four days later, Jack’s version of the story started to emerge, where rather than Swimming Australia standing by due process as outlined above, it was actually Swimand dog proof fences, the NT needs croc proof fences around every waterway and waterhole in the Territory!!! Damien Hills
Croc: Have you got time to speak about the word of God? Benny Gainz
This sort of thing just does not happen in Hobart. Andrew Newton
And farmers down south complain of kangaroos. Pete Ekenberg
Oh he just wanted to say hello. So misunderstood, you should have invited him in for a beer hahas. Hayden Haydo Hendry
The croc is a fruitarian and was after some fallen goodies. Shirley Naylor Gardening is no joke over here. Dom Hickey
The story is a bit overexaggerated, but a ripper nonetheless. Annie Butler ON MATT CUNNINGHAM’S COLUMN SAYING FEDERAL GST FUNDING TO THE NT IS ‘POLITICAL FOOTBALL’
It has always been a football Matt. As is the lofty closing-thegap political drivel that is passed among politicians (not leaders) who clumsily pass it back ad nauseam. Pollies love footy more than constitutes welfare. Actually, politicians’ self-welfare is a politician’s sole priority. Peter
What needed infrastructure were we lacking in 1978? Peter William ON A TSUNAMI WARNING BEING ISSUED AFTER A POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE OFF THE INDONESIAN ISLAND OF SUMATRA
Bali won’t be affected, but the WA coast could be. Mark Cook
Because of the extremely long continental shelf NT isn't affected by tsunamis. Same reason the tides are so huge. James Thompson