Sun Yang guilty: Australian swimmer Mack Horton’s fight to protect clean athletes reaps reward
Australian swimmer Mack Horton put his reputation on the line when he refused to join Sun Yang on the winners podium at the world swimming championships. His brave protest has has been proved correct.
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Update: Mack Horton’s crusade to clean up swimming has finally been vindicated and with it should come the rewards he deserves.
But Australia’s middle-distance swim king has a message he wants the world to know - his fight was never against Sun Yang or China - his mission was always about trying to protect clean athletes.
“My stance has always been for clean sport. It is not, and never will be about individuals or nations,” he said in a brief statement.
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“Today’s outcome does not change my stance.
Subjected to death threats to him and his family, snubbed by gutless sponsors frightened of alienating Chinese consumers and reprimanded by the sport’s out-of-touch administrators, Horton has already paid too high a price for taking a stand against doping.
But with the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to overturn FINA”s earlier ruling and ban Sun Yang for a second doping offence, Horton can now breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that his gut instincts were right along.
And this is the injustice of it all.
— Jessica Halloran (@JessiHalloran) February 28, 2020
No gold medal for Mack. #giveMackhismedal #sunyang https://t.co/rTJGgAa8RJ
With his archrival unable to compete at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, Horton will now be the strong favourite to defend the gold medal in the 400m freestyle, which would elevate him into the pantheon of swimming greats.
Only two men - Ian Thorpe and Murray Rose - have won the gut-busting eight lap event at two Olympics and after finishing runner-up to Sun last year, Horton will be the odds-on pick to get to the top of the podium in Tokyo.
Surprisingly, CAS went against convention and decided not tostrip Sun of the gold medals he won at last year’s world championships.
Normally, athletes who are found guilty of doping offences have all their results annulled, which would have meant Sun was disqualified and Horton promoted to first place in the 400m.
But CAS made an exception allowing Sun to keep his titles, which they explained.
“Considering 1) that FINA refrained from seeking the imposition of a provisional suspension on the Athlete when charging him with an anti-doping rule violation, 2) that doping tests performed on the Athlete shortly before and after the aborted doping control in September 2018 were negative, and 3) that in the absence of any evidence that the Athlete may have engaged in doping activity since 4 September 2018, including on the occasion of the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in July 2019, the results achieved by the Athlete in the period prior to the CAS award being issued should not be disqualified.”
Horton did win a relay gold in South Korea last year so missing out on the individual won’t upset him too much because he stand to benefit in so many other ways.
Whilst he has never shied away from his anti-drugs crusade, Horton is a naturally shy person who prefers to stay out of the limelight and he would have been front and centre of the biggest race at the Olympics of the pair were standing on the blocks together then at the medal presentation.