Sunday Essay: Today, State of Swimming resolves the 46-year-old mystery of who really sent a bouquet of flowers with a gauntlet supposedly signed by one Australian world record holder to another in a duel that would knock East Germany's steroid-fuelled state superiority for six.

We're back in the first week of 1978, a month in which Michelle Ford takes down East German Olympic champion Petra Thumer's 800m freestyle record in 8:34 at a meet in Brisbane and then, just two weeks later in Sydney, axes the standard back to 8:31.30.

Precisely one month later, Tracey Wickham goes 8:30.53 in Brisbane. The next day, Wickham gets a bouquet of flowers with a note that reads: "Congratulations Tracey. It won’t be so easy next time! Love. Michelle.”

The gauntlet is chucked. Wickham and family tell the local media, the headlines roar and a story of rivals locking horns is born. Fire is added to fuel when Ford points out: "Not from me", neither bouquet nor note. The rivalry played out but the mystery of who sent the flowers and penned the gauntlet - and why, has remained a mystery ever since.

Now, SOS can reveal the truth in a tale that didn't make the final edit of all the great and challenging yarns in Michelle Ford's Turning The Tide but it can now be told. It's a story that links the past with the present and shows us how the Ford vs Wickham duel holds hands with a chapter still unfolding, as Mollie O'Callaghan, the first woman ever to claim world titles in the 100 and 200m freestyle last year, prepares to race at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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