Cate Campbell is a leader on the Australian Dolphins Swim Team, both in and out of the pool and today she stood tall on the pool deck in the nation’s capital, Canberra and stood by her man Mack Horton.
As she took a break from the Australian 4x100m freestyle relay squad National Camp at the AIS, Campbell looked back on Friday and news of an eight-year ban on Sun Yang handed down in favour of the World Anti-Doping Agency by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Smile on face, she said:
“Friday night was a really exciting night…and an exciting night for clean sport…it restores faith in the judicial system… everyone needs to be accountable to the same rules.”
Leadership dripping from her words, Campbell added:
“Once a ban of this substance has been handed down we need to go back and ask why athletes were allowed to compete at a World Championships with a ban like this hanging over their heads. Some organisations need more improvement than others and I think that this is definitely something that needs to be reviewed.
“Tough questions need to be asked. I’m not the person who should be asking those questions, I think that FINA should be asking themselves those questions and they really need to have a look at the standards they’re setting.
“Mack is a man of integrity and I don’t think this decision has vindicated him in anyway shape or form, I think that it has just confirmed his courage as an athlete.”
Should Mack now get an apology?
“We need to wait until the appeals process has gone through before we start demanding things (like apologies) because we have to allow these things to run their due course,” said Campbell.
“But I think that Mack has definitely proved his worth. It was a brave step on his behalf and standing up for what you believe in can be really tough but for him it’s worked out really well.”
In comments that aped a rare public statement related to athletes rights from Matt Dunn, FINA Bureau member, Campbell said that any apology from FINA or stripping of medals should wait until Sun Yang has his final appeal heard by the Swiss Federal Court.