Nevertheless, extraordinarily, there were many commentators earnestly drawing a moral equivalence between China and Australia on drug cheating, and even many who said Sun was quite within his rights to smash the vials of blood to prevent the testing.

How did Jack testing positive change any of that? I dinkum fail to see what all the nyah-nyah-nyahs are about. Since when has Australia not had the odd scattering of failed drug tests? Of course, we have, and no one has ever claimed that as a nation we are blemish-free. What we can claim, however, is never to have had state-sponsored cheating, a la East Germany or, yes, China.

2. Can you cite a single episode where an innocent athlete was proven to have been done by corrupt drug testers? (Can you provide a shred of evidence for the claims of Sun that by smashing the vials he was actually standing in defence of clean athletes against the ravages of potentially evil drug testers?)

Shayna Jack has tested positive for Ligandrol in her system. Credit:AAP

3. If it was found out that Jack had done exactly what Sun did and smashed her own vials of blood, do you really think professional loudmouths like me, and the Australian public, would say: "That’s OK, she’s Australian, so no worries, she was quite within her rights to smash the vials, because she wasn’t happy with the paperwork of those who came knocking?" Or do you think it more likely that the outcry in Australia would have been so great that, whatever the verdict of the tribunal, there is no chance she would have been able to take her place in the team? (Go on, we’re really waiting for your answer on that one. For your position to be consistent, that this is all about us hypocrites going for the Chinese athlete while defending the Australian, you have to maintain that we would have been fine with an Australian smashing vials of blood. Is that indeed your position? Tell us!)

Listen, are we more inclined to believe our own, while being quick to judge other nationalities? Undoubtedly. But that doesn’t remotely tell the whole story here in explaining why Horton got such support, including a standing ovation from other swimmers when he got back to the athletes' village. (Does that tell you something, by the way, when he receives such acclaim from his peers, who live it day by day, week by week, month by month for years on end? Do you think it might be because his peers recognised the problem, and he was the bloke doing most to solve the problem?)