Sun Yang protest: Back Mack for taking a stand

Mack Horton after winning silver at this year's World Swimming Championships, and Raelene Boyle after taking silver at the 1972 Olympics. Picture: Getty Images/News Corp

Mack Horton should be the men’s 400m freestyle world champion, just as Raelene Boyle should have won a gold medal in the 200m at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

Boyle was only beaten by East German drug cheat Renate Stecher, just as Horton was only beaten by controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, a man with a dark cloud of doping allegations hanging over him.

Sun Yang. Picture: AP

Sun Yang celebrated victory last night in Gwangju, South Korea, by smashing his fists into the water — just as he has alleged to have shattered blood samples at his home in China last September when a visit by doping control officials didn’t go the way he wanted.

That incident has led to him facing allegations of doping rule violations that could see him banned from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He’ll front a hearing in September. Remarkably, swimming’s world governing body, FINA, has decided that a swimmer under investigation should be allowed to compete in the world championships. And not just any swimmer, but a bloke who served a three-month suspension for doping in 2014.

Sun should not be competing in Gwangju and he should not have been allowed to swim in the 400m final, let alone win it. Horton, who swam a courageous race to finish second, should be the world champion.

Horton has done what any clean athlete should do — kept his distance from anyone tainted by drugs. That meant refusing to share a podium with Sun during the medal presentation and refusing to pose for photographs with him.

It’s a principled stand, applauded by many of his fellow athletes. “Absolutely awesome to see Mack Horton protesting clean sport by not getting up on the podium next to Sun Yang #cleansport,” tweeted David McKeon, who swam the 4x200m relay with Horton in Rio.

Absolutely awesome to see @_mackhorton protesting clean sport by not getting up on the podium next to Sun Yang #cleansport pic.twitter.com/6WFJ8LhV8H

— David McKeon (@DavoMcKeon) July 21, 2019

When Horton walked into the dining hall at the swimmers’ accommodation in Gwangju last night, dozens of athletes from countries all over the world stood and applauded.

Let me add my voice to the acclaim.