Reporter questions Mack Horton’s dais protest

A reporter asks where Horton’s protest was when “Australian swimmers missed doping tests”.

Andrew Wu’s tweet about Mack Horton. Source: Twitter

A sports reporter with Nine Entertainment’s The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has attacked Australian swimmer Mack Horton’s high-profile public protest against China’s Sun Yang at the world titles last night.

Horton refused to stand on the victory dais for the medal presentation after Sun won the 400m freestyle.

The Chinese swimmer is facing Court of Arbitration for Sport tribunal in September following reports that his entourage smashed blood vials during a fumbled dope-testing raid.

Horton received a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, while Italy’s Gabriele Detti scored bronze.

On social media platform Twitter, SMH reporter Andrew Wu questioned where Horton’s “public stance against drugs in sport when three Australian swimmers missed doping tests? I suppose it’s much easier to take a stand against athlete from another country.”

Following a tweet by former Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney, who said she was “absolutely floored (in a GREAT way)” about Horton fighting to get silver in the 400 freestyle from nowhere only five weeks ago at trials to a “sensational swim on a big stage!”, Wu again questioned the Aussie’s performance.

Where was Mack Horton’s public stance against drugs in sport when three Australian swimmers missed doping tests? I suppose it’s much easier to take a stand against athlete from another country

— Andrew Wu (@wutube) July 21, 2019

“Australian athlete makes rapid improvement” and gets applause. But when an athlete from a non-English speaking country, such as Russia, a former Eastern Bloc or communist nation, “makes rapid improvement in short time” it is questioned.

Giaan Rooney fires back

Rooney quickly rejected Wu’s comments. “How do you even put this together? I was speaking about Mack missing his taper 5 weeks ago at trials then mentally stepping up to win silver. I never insinuated any thing else. For you to not tag me in your tweet shows you know you are trying to connect dots that aren’t there,” she said on Twitter.

Another person, with a Twitter account in the name of Shannon Plant, called out Wu over his remarks about Horton.

“If you believe that Sun isn’t a drug cheat and are implying that Mack is, there is a fair chance you need your head read mate.”

Wu, who writes on cricket and the AFL, rejected the assertion, writing: “Never said that at all. I don’t like this holier than thou attitude towards rivals from other countries but when Australians violate drug rules there’s radio silence.”

Nine introduced a new social media policy following its $4 billion takeover of Fairfax Media last December, saying it was in line with practices at other major publishers and newsrooms.

Staff at the SMH and The Age were urged to take care with what they re­tweet, not to use social media to make customer service complaints, not to live-tweet events if it interferes with their work, and not to share breaking news or tips from other organisations without attribution or confirmation.

The new policy also advised staff not to use social media to directly attack rival journalists or publications and not attack trolls, even if abused.

A spokeswoman for Nine said it is “not going to comment on this one.” Wu, who has worked for the SMH for nearly nine years, wasn’t immediately available to comment.