International swimmers back Australia’s Mack Horton in his stoush with China’s Sun Yang as AOC says we won’t apologise
NEWLY-crowned Aussie golden boy Mack Horton has picked a scab - and now the debate over drugs in sport is going to get bloody.
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NEWLY-crowned Aussie golden boy Mack Horton has picked a scab - and now the debate over drugs in sport is going to get bloody.
And Australian Olympic boss Kitty Chiller said there would be no apology to the Chinese after gold medalist Mack Horton labelled Chinese swimmer Sun Yang a drug cheat.
“We have no intention of making an apology,” Ms Chiller said.
She said Horton had “strong views about the need for clean sport”.
“Every single one of us does,” she said.
“He has every right to express his views and his pleasure in that sense.”
There has been a simmering anger on pool decks over the increasing scourge of drug enhancement but swimmers were forbidden from talking about it.
With one bold comment hours before he stole gold from his arch rival - suspected Chinese drug cheat Sun Yang – Horton, 20, has changed the game by declaring he had “no time for drug cheats”.
An international rollcall of swimmers lined up on Monday to support Horton as he faced a vicious online backlash and demands from China to apologise for his “malicious personal attack”.
And a defiant Yang stood firm, declaring: “I am no friend of Mack Horton. I’m the 1500m king.”
It came as the inclusion of a drug cheat sparked more anger on day two of Olympic competition, controversial Russian breaststroker Yulia Efimova.
“It’s pretty hard because in my event there is someone who is absolutely a drug cheat,” said her Hong Kong rival Yvette Kong.
“It makes you sick because you work so hard to get here and cheats are getting away with it.”
Ireland’s Fiona Doyle said: “Cheaters are cheaters. She [Efimova] has tested positive five times and she’s gotten away with it again.”
Horton’s courage in calling out swimming’s shame was lauded by his coach, teammates, Olympians and the Australian Olympic Committee.
Describing his comments as “one for the clean guys, one for the good guys”, Olympic gold medallist Giann Rooney said the issue needed to be aired.
“It’s very much has ripped the scab off. For the first time in these Olympics we are seeing drugs is a talking point very much out in the public and it’s something that has probably been kept under wraps for a long time.”
This veil of secrecy is clearly still alive and well, with one Italian swimmer telling News Corp yesterday: “I shouldn’t be talking about because they told me not to do it. The whole
team, we have been told not to talk about it.”
“But I don’t think it’s fair for the other athletes and they shouldn’t be here if they have tested positive.
“Keeping quiet about it isn’t helping. I see a lot of my teammates and a lot of athletes are upset when they see other guys doping. We know who they are, it is disgusting.”
Horton’s stand drew the ire of the Chinese, where Yang is considered a national hero.
Swim team manager Xu Qi called for him to back down, saying: “We think his inappropriate words greatly hurt the feelings between Chinese and Australian swimmers. It is proof of a lack of good manners and upbringing. We strongly demand an apology from this swimmer.”
However Yang won’t be getting an apology from Australia, chef de mission Kitty Chiller said on Monday night.
“We have no intention of making an apology,” Ms Chiller said.
She said Horton had “strong views about the need for clean sport”.
“Every single one of us does,” she said.
“He has every right to express his views and his pleasure in that sense.”
While Yang’s Chinese fans have trolled Horton to the point of death threats, his stand saw him applauded by his peers, according to his father Andrew.
“After the 400m, as he walked back out to the warmup pool, all of the swimmers – and this is internationally – applauded him. And they didn’t applaud him because he won the race. They applauded him because he had the courage to stand up and say what he did,” Mr Horton said.
“Sun Yang was rubbed out for performance-enhancing drugs. That’s factual.
“And that’s all that was said. Protest as much as they like. They’ve given it a fair crack on social media over the last 24 hours,” he said, adding his son had received almost 700,000 social media messages.
Horton’s teammates also came out swinging on his behalf, with Josh Beaver saying: “I am really proud of Mack, everyone is really proud of Mack and I am sure it will be a good battle in the 1500m.”
Matt Abood said: “He didn’t back down and he let his swim do the talking for him. I stand behind Mack.”
Australian swim team leader Thomas Fraser-Holmes declared: “I’m a teammate and I stand with Mack or any teammate you know. I stand behind my teammates and I’ve always got their back.
And his coach, Craig Jackson, said he was confident Horton could handle the attention ahead of his next showdown with Yang in the 1500m.
“I think he is mature enough to deal with that, I didn’t know he was going to do it but it’s done and dusted and we move forward now,” Jackson said.
“I know where he stands and I think he said what he said so it’s now time to leave that behind and move forward because we’ve got a couple of more races ahead of us.”
The swim team has now upped their attack and demanded Horton back down.
“We have been noticing what has been said in the past two days by Horton, who launched a malicious personal attack (on Chinese swimmers),” swim team manager Xu Qi said on Sunday, according to reports in online news service Chinagate.
“We think his inappropriate words greatly hurt the feelings between Chinese and Australian swimmers. It is proof of a lack of good manners and upbringing. We strongly demand an apology from this swimmer.”
Sun is competing in Rio despite serving a three month ban in 2014 for a positive banned drug test. The 24-year-old 400m and 1500m freestyle London gold winner said he took the drug for a chronic heart condition without knowing it was banned.
Horton and Yang’s longstanding rivalry stepped up a notch when the Chinese swimmer repeatedly splashed the Aussie during a training session last week. Horton’s drug cheat sledge was in response to a question about the incident.
Originally published as International swimmers back Australia’s Mack Horton in his stoush with China’s Sun Yang as AOC says we won’t apologise
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