Mack Horton has won Australia’s first gold of the Olympics with victory in the 400m freestyle

EMERGING young swim star Mack Horton has conquered a “drug cheat” and claimed Olympic gold as Australia made an emphatic start to their Rio Games campaign in the pool.

Australia's Mack Horton celebrates his gold medal in the 400m freestyle.

• LIVE BLOG: All the Aussie action from day one in Rio
• Who is Mack Horton? Five things you need to know

EMERGING young swim star Mack Horton has conquered a “drug cheat” and claimed Olympic gold as Australia made an emphatic start to their Rio Games campaign in the pool.

Horton set the scene for a fiery 400m freestyle final during the heats when he slammed China’s defending champion Sun Yang as someone he did not respect because he had served a doping ban in 2014.

The 20-year-old from Victoria talked the talk and then walked the walk, smashing his way to a stunning 400m freestyle victory at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in a time of 3:41.55.

Australia's gold medal winner Mack Horton with his teammate David McKeon celebrating his gold medal in the 400m freestyle.

It was a wonderful start for the Dolphins in the pool as Horton cast aside any nerves as an Olympic rookie to execute a total eclipse of the Sun in the final.

Sun finished the final in second place with 3:41.68 after closing very quickly in the final 50m.

But all eyes were on Horton, the kid who survived a car accident last May but was never going to let anything stop him winning gold in Rio.

Mack Horton shows off his gold medal. Picture: Alex Coppel

“What just happened. That is insane. 0.1 of a PB. You swim to win and that is what I did and it all worked out,” Horton told the Channel 7 network straight after his race.

“I kept telling myself that I had this and I was in control and I could do it. I had my eye on everybody on the outside. Going into like the third 100 or so he (Sund Yang) was a little bit behind and I knew if I picked up and got in front of him I could stay on top to the end.

“It’s definitely a win for the good guys. It is a rival between me and athletes that have tested positive.”

Absolutely bloody love seeing drug cheats getting beaten. Even better when it's an Aussie. Way to go @_mackhorton pic.twitter.com/aaAly8EQ3f

— Melanie Wright OAM (@mel_wright) August 7, 2016

He had put pressure on his own shoulders in the heats, when quizzed about an incident with Sun in the training pool a few days earlier where the Chinese star had tried to intimidate him by splashing and attempting to distract his session.

“It kind of got played up in the media a little bit, he kind of splashed me to say hi and I ignored him because I don’t have time or respect for drug cheats and then he wasn’t too happy about that so he kept splashing me and I just got in and did my thing,” Horton said.

Australia's Mack Horton comes to terms with his gold medal win. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Horton said he had felt strangely calm ahead of his Olympic debut.

“Surprisingly stupidly relaxed, I was kind of a bit nervous about how relaxed I was yesterday and this morning so it’s all working out,” he said.

MORE TO COME

Aussies star in the pool on Day 1

VIEW GALLERY

####

Originally published as Mack Horton has won Australia’s first gold of the Olympics with victory in the 400m freestyle