Taking a stance – or overstepping?

Mack Horton went a step too far. Put another way, he came up a step short.

Horton should have taken the podium. If he then chose not to shake Sun Yang’s hand, fair enough. He would have made his point about Yang and his bona fides just as well. By eschewing the podium, he made it about himself, the odd man out.

That’s not to say Horton was consciously selfish. He sees himself as a crusader for clean sport. You can’t doubt his passion or sincerity. He has on his side the moral force of, for instance, Australian runner Raelene Boyle, who was cheated out of gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics and feels aggrieved still. She’s backing him.

History may vindicate him. But history hasn’t played out yet.

China’s Sun Yang, centre, holds up his gold medal with silver medallist Australia’s Mack Horton, left.Credit:AP

The most recent incident involving Yang is yet to come before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Last year, a bodyguard of Yang’s smashed a vial of Yang’s blood after a test. That much has filtered into public consciousness, so neatly fitting the stereotype of wanton cheat.

Less highlighted is that an inquiry found irregularities, not least that only one of the three testers was qualified, leaving open the possibility that the vial was destroyed for fear of tampering, not taint. The inquiry said the smashing of the vial was “foolish”, but ultimately recorded no violation. WADA is now appealing that to CAS.

Previously, Yang served a three-month suspension for a drug code violation. This ignited the animus between Horton and Yang. At the Rio Olympics, other swimmers rallied around Horton, escalating it to the level of a diplomatic incident. At times, the pursuit had elements of a lynch mob. Now it is riding again.

When it comes to violations of the drug code, Australia is not immune. Alongside Horton in this Australian team is Thomas Fraser-Holmes, who missed three drug tests in 2017 and was banned for a year.

It was all a misunderstanding, of course. It nearly always is when an Australian is involved.

That is not to say Yang is pure, nor that Fraser-Holmes is dirty. It is to say that the view in international sport is almost always through a prism, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Victorious Horton and Yang at the Rio Olympics in 2016.Credit:AP

On Tuesday, the temperature changed. FINA warned Horton and Swimming Australia against grandstanding. The Australian Olympic Committee stopped short of endorsing Horton unconditionally. Horton himself dialled it down, saying he wanted the focus henceforth to be on the rest of the Australian team and the balance of the program.

But the core issue has not changed. Swimmers remain sceptical that FINA is doing its best to eliminate drugs and disenfranchise drug cheats. In that light, Yang merely is the personification of the problem, and Horton’s argument is not really with him, but with FINA.

If so, he should have made his stance not a step behind the podium at the end, but a step behind the starting block at the beginning.

He should have boycotted. An empty podium step was one thing. An empty lane: now that would have been a statement.

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