Behind the grey blinds of Lennon, Heather and Co something out of the ordinary was going on. Michelle de Bruin arrived at her Dublin solicitors yesterday to defend herself.
The assembled media wondered whether the Olympic gold medallist was about to sink or swim.
In the event she did neither, managing somehow to tread water in a sea of damaging allegations that could spell the end of her career. And it was a sniff of whiskey, not sulphur, that hung around the room.
Earlier, two colourful displays of fresh flowers had been removed from the conference table to make way for a small army of radio microphones. Reporters straining for a glimpse of the swimmer had to peer through the paraphernalia of 10 camera crews.
"Here she is, lads," said someone seconds before she entered the room. As up to 100 mainly male media representatives jostled for position, the later talk of testosterone levels seemed mildly ironic.
In the midst of the media frenzy, Ms de Bruin appeared elegant and composed as she sat down to read her 11-page statement. Flanked by her husband, Erik, and her solicitor, Mr Peter Lennon, she spoke emotionally, but clearly, in her defence.
Words such as "stunned" and "horrified" were effectively enunciated. Her innocence was proclaimed with dramatic pauses, her tone eventually settling somewhere between angry and indignant.
But despite these outward signs of strength the strain of the past 24 hours was etched on her face. Her carefully applied make-up could not cover the bags under her eyes. And she managed to hold back what seemed like a potential pool of tears throughout the 40-minute conference.
When she had finished and the inevitable questions began, she avoided the media's gaze. We had been told that Ms de Bruin would not answer questions herself ("for legal reasons") but occasionally she gave replies by whispering in Mr Lennon's ear. One of the few exceptions came when she spoke directly to a reporter from TnaG. The whole saga was "ufasach", she confided.
Erik de Bruin said little, only speaking when asked if he had been in the room while his wife had been tested at their Kilkenny home. "I am not the one holding a press conference," he said to Mr Lennon.
There were a few moments of levity, in reference to the allegation that Ms de Bruin's sample had "a very strong whiskey odour". Would Michelle know whether there was a smell of whiskey off the sample container?
"I would suspect that she didn't go and smell a beaker containing her own urine," said Mr Lennon.
Was she a regular whiskey imbiber, someone else asked. "It made me sick once," the swimmer muttered ruefully.