A potentially explosive second meeting between Mack Horton and his Chinese rival, Sun Yang, has been avoided with the Australian failing to qualify for the 800m freestyle final at the swimming world championships in South Korea.
Horton, whose social media has been bombarded with abuse from supporters of Sun after staging a protest against the Chinese swimmer earlier this week, placed eighth in his heat on Tuesday and will miss out on another shot at Sun.
Triple Olympic champion Sun, who beat Horton to gold in the 400m freestyle a day earlier, sneaked into the medal race after posting the eighth fastest qualifying time across four heats.
The pair’s rivalry, which stretches back to the Rio Olympics when Horton branded Sun a “drug cheat”, reignited this week after the Australian chose not to shake the race winner’s hand or stand on the podium alongside him after Monday’s final.
But Horton indicated after his disappointing showing in the 800m heat – an event in which he had been tipped as a medal chance – he may tone down his anti-doping stance for the sake of his teammates during the remainder of the championships.
“As much as I want to protect the sport, I still need to protect the team,” Horton said. “So the focus now is the team’s performances and focusing on what everyone else is doing and making sure we get through the week.”
Horton’s initial protest was met with widespread support from fellow swimmers – American breaststroke champion Lilly King said he received a standing ovation upon entering the athletes’ village dining hall – but drew swift and cutting condemnation from Sun’s supporters.
“You should cherish the chance you got to bathe in Sun Yang’s foot washing water. In the future, you might not even qualify tournaments. Garbage is garbage, always looking for attention,” one social media user commented.
Another warned Horton, “You made me spend 18 RMB to jump a firewall just so I can scold you...a lot of your Chinese daddies don’t know how to jump a firewall, if they did, you would be drowning in their spit.”
“Australians are so disgusting, you’re just a jumping beam clown who can’t afford to lose,” was another blunt assessment; “Mack Horton is stinky chicken,” another. There were also some death threats.
Sun has been a controversial figure in swimming even before the start of his public rivalry with Horton, which began three years ago at the Rio Games; the 27-year-old served a three-month ban in 2014 for doping after testing positive for a banned stimulant.
In 2013, he spent seven days in detention after driving without a licence and crashing his car into a bus in his hometown of Hangzhou.
More recently, Sun is accused of allegedly smashing vials of blood samples with a hammer during a routine out-of-competition drug test. While a Fina doping panel initially ruled in favour of Sun, the World Anti-Doping Agency elected to challenge the decision.
Until the Wada appeal is ruled upon, Sun is still permitted to compete professionally, which frames Horton’s protest against the Chinese athlete’s legitimacy as a moral challenge rather than a legal one. If Wada wins its case, Sun faces a lifetime ban from the sport.
After Horton’s protest, Richard Ings, the former CEO of Asada, offered a reminder that Sun is “innocent unless and until proven guilty”. Ings also suggested that Horton should attract a penalty for not demonstrating proper sportsmanship, claiming that there would be “absolute outrage” had it been Australia swimming great Ian Thorpe who was snubbed by international athletes.
I am no fan of Sun Yang
— Richard Ings (@ringsau) July 21, 2019
But he has served his suspension for a doping violation and he has been cleared by a FINA panel of refusing to provide a sample.
Innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Not standing on the podium with him should attract a hefty penalty.
When asked to comment on Horton’s actions, Sun responded by saying that he was aware of the Australian’s “dissatisfaction” and that “it was unfortunate because disrespecting me is OK, but disrespecting China was very unfortunate and I feel sorry about that.”
