Aussie swimmer fails doping test: report

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I agree with you to a degree but it was Chinese swimming authorities and FINA that have bent the rules for Sun. Not the whole country. But I notice there is a double standard in Australia when criticising dopers from other countries. The biggest dopers in world sport right not by a massive margin is the British cycling team. Now, I know cycling is a dirty sport, always has been and always will be, but how many outraged Aussies do you see about TUE abuse and jiffy bags and BS excuses about asthma medication etc? None. Quite the opposite. A lot of Australians I talk to will rush to defend the British and suggest no way would the British ever cheat or dope.

No, you're completely wrong and making fallacies out of false equivalencies. Of course Swimming Australia would want to keep it quiet until after the World Championships had finished. Delaying announcing it a couple of weeks is hardly the equivalent of not announcing it all, handing down a joke 3 month suspension that doesn't cover any major meets and then only telling FINA after it had all been done and dusted. I don't really care if Jack claims innocence. The drugs were in her body regardless and she will face suspension and as you point out she will miss 2020 Olympics regardless. She might come back but I don't think she will be warmly greeted back into the swimming team. Australia's record in doping isn't perfect but its better than most major Olympic countries. The disgrace that is Gatlin is still running and will be at the athletics world championships. The British cycling by far are the biggest dopers in world sport. China's record in swimming and of couse virtually all Russians doping and tampering with samples at 2014 Sochi. Virtually every top male Jamaican sprinter except Bolt has been busted at some point.

And let’s not forget, there is another Australian on the team who served a 12 month ban for repeatedly “missing” drug tests. Due to swim tomorrow I believe. Presumably Horton is ok sharing a flight/team/room with Fraser-Holmes.

Did Warnie's mum give it to her?

I'm very keen to hear Horton speak out against drug cheats in his own team. I'm not expecting it. For me he's taken a personal dislike of Sun and tried to make out like it was some honourable crusade against drug cheats ... The next few days will show how legit he was, or if he's just a hypocrite

My own backyard suspended our two best players (All-Time Greats) for being complicit only (not caught in the act) of a player caught ball-tampering where other countries including South Africa and England have not even bothered to sanction their players at all. That is the standard we expect and hence Shayna should quite rightfully be a Goner. If you look at countries like China, Russia or even Greece you will find their governments in denial and protection mode if it means they can enjoy the ‘shine’ from a few gold medals. There is so much systemic cheating in those countries, it is nothing more than a state-funded program to project a false sense of self-worth.

Australians remain incredibly sanctimonious when it comes to drugs. We still like to imagine our sports stars as those athletes and tennis players of the 50s and 60s, but in the ruthlessly competitive and big dollar environment of modern sports were really no better than anyone else. And that sanctimony can bite really hard. The Chinese are having all kinds of fun with this. Mack Horton dodging questions today...where’s all the “courage” gone?

Have to disagree about the cover-up aspect. We only know because Shayna Jack outed herself. Swimming Australia didn't, they kept it undercover. Have a look at the comments by Richard Ings today, could not be any clearer. Yes, there is a B sample to come, then ASADA to hand down a penalty, then an appeal to CAS as she has stated she doesn't know how the substance was in her system so she sort of has to appeal. By the time that plays out she will almost certainly have missed selection for Tokyo, and by then at 21 it's a hard road for a swimmer to have a future (that's assuming she is innocent and doesn't get a punishment). And we are hypocritical. One of the big complaints about Sun Yang is that detail wasn't released sbout his positive, yet we do the same thing. If we demand those standards from others (and absolutely we should) we have to live them as well. I really feel for the swimmer, I know from a personal level just what they have to put in for this sport. If it has been a stuff up what a way to mess up your career.

Theres been no cover-up. These things take time. B samples have to be tested, WADA, FINA, Swimming Australia etc have to communicate etc. Australia is not hypocritical. We're not asking for special circumstances. Jack will be fully punished and in all likelihood will never swim for Australia again.

I hope what we have been told is correct. But we already had a cover-up for a couple of weeks. As far as I'm aware we still haven't been told what the substance was. We have already been primed with the 'I don't know how it got in my system' defence. What's next - 'it was a contaminated steak'? Again, I really hope there is a rational explanation for all of this but the patriotic blinkers need to come off. And you probably wonder why some other swimmers think we are hypocritical.

I'm looking forward to seeing Mack apply the same standards to his team-mate. That's what is problematic.

I can guarantee you Jack will not get a 3 month "ban" that is swept under the rug and not publicly announced until after the suspension was server. The issue is the different rules certain big name swimmers from China get from FINA and the rules the rest of the swimmers have to face.

Yes I suppose thats the reason the whole cronulla league team got 3 weeks for taking peptides....i remember when Sam reilly got a positive test for taking a pill she thought was a disprin that had been sitting in her coaches swim bag for 3 years unwrapped....Try looking at your own back yard before making up stuff about others back yard.

Not sure what is problematic about it. Dopers should be banned. Country is irrelevant.

The difference is Shayna will be thrown out of the team whereas China has been complicit in covering Sun’s tracks just like the Russians have done. All things being equal, the Chinese governance and a very large part of their society lack a social conscience. The Chinese mindset is all about the shortest/fastest way to accumulate wealth and therefore they tend to be deceptive and untrusting of those outside of their family network. They even managed to implement their own form of communism with no belief in the philosophical principles, only a means for control of the masses.

Sadly, we all get reminded why Mack Horton's stand, whilst understandable, is problematic.

But will Mack Horton travel on the same plane as Jack in the future?

Before all the ' Australia is a hypocrite ' comments which I know there will be, just let me point out that we call out other australians for doing wrong. China believes that it's people can do no wrong. Shayna will and should be punished accordingly