World Swimming Championships: Sun Yang finds more controversy after winning 200m freestyle gold

Just 48 hours after Mack Horton’s brave stance, Scottish swimmer Duncan Scott delivered another blow to the credibility of Sun Yang — and the Chinese drug cheat didn’t like it one bit.

Sun Yang admonishes Duncan Scott for his podium protest.

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The swimming world championships have descended into open warfare with Sun Yang involved in an ugly row with British sprinter Duncan Scott.

The protest that Mack Horton started when he refused to join Sun on the medal podium after he lost to the Chinese in Sunday’s 400m final, has suddenly escalated into a full-blown crisis.

In a powerful act of solidarity with Horton, who received an official warning from the sport’s governing body FINA for his silent protest, Scott did not shake hands or be photographed with Sun after the 200m medal ceremony.

Sun Yang admonishes Duncan Scott for his podium protest.

Sun Yang wants a please explain from Duncan Scott over his stance.

Sun was furious with the Scotsman, shaking his fist then confronting him again and taunting him by pointing his finger at his face and saying “You loser. I’m winning, yes.”

Scott did not speak to reporters after the incident but his British teammate Adam Peaty laid into the hot-headed Chinese freestyler, saying he was out of order.

Sun Yang was more demonstrative shouting at Scott just before the Chinese anthem. pic.twitter.com/Q1e7vmNlNC

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 23, 2019

“Yes I saw that. He (Scott) is completely right,” Peaty said.

“If people are booing him it’s for a reason. He should be asking himself now — should I really be in this sport when people are booing me?

“But I know how they are and I know how he is so it’s yeah …. If I was swimming I wouldn’t even get on the podium for that matter.”

Sun’s behaviour after his win had already angered his rivals and the crowd who booed him relentlessly.

The Chinese swimmer’s over-the-top celebration was roundly boowed.

In an astonishing twist, Sun was awarded victory when the first man to get his hand on the wall, Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys, was disqualified for a false start.

While he was consoled by some of the other swimmers, Sun sat on the lane ropes all alone and hammed it up after everyone else had got out of the pool, enraging everyone.

Peaty said it was no wonder Scott protested.

“I think the most important thing as a sports person is that you have a right to a voice and Duncan showed his voice tonight and so did the crowd,” he said.

It’s completely fair that what ever is going on behind the scenes now is not going right because if the fans aren’t wanting it then why is he even here?”

Aussie Clyde Lewis, who swam in the lane next to the Lithuanian, was among the first to congratulate him after the race and said he felt sorry that he had been stripped of the title.

Clyde Lewis had to settle for sixth behind Sun Yang.

“Yeah it was a bit bizarre, poor bloke,” Lewis said.

“I’m sure he’s shattered but s**t happens.”

Lewis was brave in defeat.

Inspired by watching his teammate Ariarne Titmus beat Katie Ledecky, the 21-year-old Queenslander desperately wanted to deliver the one thing that every Australian swim fan craved — to bring down Sun.

He didn’t die wondering, setting off at a cracking pace and leading the field through the first 100m before he ran out of gas.

“I knew that boys on either side of me like to back end it so I tried to get a lead. I just didn’t have what I had last night but s**t happens,” he said.

Originally published as World Swimming Championships: Sun Yang finds more controversy after winning 200m freestyle gold