Mack Horton won’t be punished for refusing to share podium with Sun Yang at world championships

Mack Horton’s stand against Sun Yang is backed by 99 per cent of athletes, says Mitch Larkin.

Mack Horton might have taken a lonely stand in his protest against China’s Sun Yang and drugs in the sport but 99 per cent of athletes at the world titles back his actions, says Australian backstroker Mitch Larkin.

There was no support in sight for Horton as he stared down Sun and FINA officials last night by refusing to mount the victory dais for the medal presentation after the 400m freestyle but, behind the scenes, athletes the world over were applauding the stand he was taking.

“I think 100 per cent of the Aussie athletes certainly back Mack up and I was saying before that while he was standing alone on the podium last night he’s not standing alone in spirit,” said Larkin following his heat swim in the 100m backstroke.

“99 per cent of the athletes here support what he does. We are all fighting for a clean sport and you have to trust that the performance that you do and the training that you do is enough to get you across the line.”

MORE: Pool feud boils into podium protest

There was initially some concern that FINA might have moved against Horton, much as the International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic Committee acted against American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos following their Black Power protest at the victory ceremony following the 200m in Mexico City during the 1968 Olympics.

US athletes Tommie Smith (centre), and John Carlos, right, with silver medallist Peter Norman at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968.

Australian Peter Norman, who finished with the silver medal in that race and joined in the protest with an anti-racist button pinned to his breast, never competed at another Olympics but was awarded an Order of Merit award posthumously by AOC president John Coates only last year.

But Australian officials who spoke with FINA shortly after the incident occurred on Sunday evening were reassured that there would be no official response to what Horton did.

It was a rare astute reading of the situation by the traditionally tone-deaf FINA, given that Horton’s protest was as much against FINA’s actions in allowing Sun to swim while facing a Court of Arbitration for Sport tribunal in September following reports that his entourage smashed blood vials during a dope-testing raid gone horribly wrong.

The irony is that if the tribunal finds against Sun, he could be stripped of all the medals he has won over the past six months, which means that Horton could yet receive the gold medal that he believes he was wrongly denied in this southern South Korean city.

Horton had the second day of the meet off but will return to the pool for the heats of the 800m freestyle — where he again will run up against the 200cm Sun, the man they call the Great Wall of China.

Silver medallist Mack Horton of Australia and gold medallist Sun Yang of China pose during the medal ceremony for Men's 400m Freestyle Final.

‘A rude, sour loser, cry-baby’

Sun accused Australian Mack Horton of disrespecting China after he refused to share a podium at the world championships in South Korea last night.

The Chinese swimming federation has reportedly demanded an apology from Australia for Horton’s stance which has also stirred a wave of condemnation on Chinese social media.

Yang beat Horton to win gold in the 400-metre freestyle race but the Australian refused to stand next to the Chinese athlete when he received his silver medal, instead standing behind the podium.

Yang said it was unfortunate Horton felt the need to disrespect China. “I was aware that the Australian athlete had dissatisfaction and personal feelings towards me,” he said at a post-race press conference. “But it was unfortunate because disrespecting me is okay but disrespecting China was very unfortunate and I felt sorry about that.

“It is also OK if you don’t respect me personally, but during the victory ceremony, which is the most important event, we all represent our countries, you should stand on the podium, and show your respect to my country China and your country Australia and to the audience.

“I’m aware of the rumours (about his alleged hammer attack).

“(But) I think this has been the greatest achievement in history for the Chinese (swimming) team.”

Silver medallist Australia's Mack Horton (L) and gold medallist China's Sun Yang pose with their medals after the final of the men's 400m freestyle event.

Horton sparked a stoush between China and Australia three years ago after he called Sun a cheat during the Rio Olympics. Sun had served a secret three-month suspension after testing positive to a banned substance.

Sun also escaped punishment last year after he smashed a vial of his own blood with a hammer to prevent it from being tested by the International Doping Tests and Management.

Chinese reaction

Many Chinese media outlets airbrushed Horton’s podium boycott, instead focusing on Sun’s victory and failing to publish photos of Horton’s one-man protest.

But The China Daily hit out at Horton, accusing the Australian of having a lack of respect for the sport. “Horton’s behaviour was not an insult to Chinese athletes, but an insult to himself,” it said in its report of the weekend’s events

The China Daily said Horton’s behaviour showed a “lack of respect’’ for “competition” which was a “not only a denial to his career, but violated the spirit of sports.

“His behaviour will make his silver medal less glorious.”

Chinese newsagency Xinhua reported “Horton openly refused to accept the silver”. It said that Sun Yang was not affected by the protest and had dismissed it as a “just small tricks.”

Other sections of the Chinese media reported the comments by Sun who said “you don’t have to respect me, but you have to respect China.”

One social media commentator accused Horton of being arrogant, saying he “represents some Australians’ arrogance, prejudice; they have no their own ideas, only followers of US.”

“If you can’t afford the failure, just go home to drink milk;” another commentator said on social media. “Shame on you and shame on your country.”

“Don’t make us think all Australians are like you.”

Xinhua newsagency showed a photo of Sun Yang celebrating in the pool after his race, in a report which mentioned that it was his fourth straight gold medal at the FINA World Championships since 2013 with Horton taking out the silver.

The state-run People’s Daily quoted Sun labelling Horton’s action as “usual tricks” after he won the men 400m freestyle, while the Global Times, a Chinese nationalist outlet, reported Sun’s call for Horton to “show respect” via its official wechat account.

Sun’s comments were hailed by patriotic Chinese citizens, who criticised Horton for being “rude”, “ridiculous”, “a sour loser”, “narrow-minded” and “with no spirit of sport”.

An influential nationalist commentator Lei Xiying commented on Weibo: “…Why would we care how he (Horton) think? Does it deserve it? Even Australia does not deserve to be an adversary of a new China, not to mention such an insignificant swimmer like him. We beat him, that’s enough.”

Mack Horton with gold medallist China's Sun Yang and bronze medallist Italy's Gabriele Detti at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

The Australian team’s reaction to Horton’s stance will no doubt further infuriate Sun with the Dolphins throwing their support behind the 23-year-old. Head coach Jacco Verhaeren claimed he had no prior knowledge of Horton’s protest but had no problem with it.

“That was his idea to do that. But let’s put it this way, I understand him very much,” he said.

“Mack stands for what he stands for. Nobody can take that away from him, nobody should. But we move on and into the next races.”

Last night’s podium incident sparked a fierce reaction on social media with fellow swimmers praising Horton and Yang’s supporters insulting the Australian.

Swimmer Cate Campbell, who also has been outspoken about the problem of drugs in swimming backed Horton. “I support clean sport and I support swimmers standing up for their beliefs and I think Mack did an incredible job and we’ll take it as a win for Australia,” said Campbell.

French swimmer Nicolas D’oriano called Horton a “legend” while a Twitter user with the handle @jiahao_lee said the Australian had a “baby-crying face”.

Legend. @_mackhorton 👏#HammerTime pic.twitter.com/zL4xBIecZi

— Nicolas D'oriano (@NicolasDOriano) July 21, 2019

Congratulations @_mackhorton - Olympic and now World champion; shame you won’t get the gold medal for it #cleansport

— Melanie Wright OAM (@mel_wright) July 21, 2019

You, #MackHorton, deserve to look upon #SunYang. He is standing and celebrating his golden Medal while you were having your baby-crying face with everyone ignoring you. Losing game while losing personalities. What a beautiful golden Medal isn't it? @_mackhorton pic.twitter.com/IOg6x4dmPH

— MrPresident_Lee (@jiahao_lee) July 21, 2019

Andrew Horton, Mack’s father, said his son was frustrated by the lack of consistency around drug testing.

“I think he was respectful,” he told 3AW this morning. “I think Mack, like so many in the sport, would just like consistency in the approach to the testing regime.

Mack Horton at home with his family. Mack with his mum and dad, Andrew and Cheryl. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“I think [he] was frustrated and disappointed as so many of the athletes are that this issue has tagged along into the world championships.’’

Mr Horton denied his son’s actions were directed at China. “This is all to do about the process in swimming and fair process in swimming,” he said.

“This is not about China we have huge respect for China. This is about ensuring the systems and processes in the sport keep the sport clean.”

Sun lawyers attack media

Lawyers for Sun had attacked the Australian media for their coverage of his drug testing issues.

“Sun Yang objects to being tried in the Australian press by journalists who cherry picked through (the recent judgment by world swimming body FINA), inciting damaging reactions from third parties on the internet,” his lawyers said in a statement before the weekend race.

Sun could be banned for life if the World Anti Doping Authority is successful in an appeal in September against a ruling by a FINA doping panel which said he was not to blame for breaking a vial of blood which was taken from him for drug testing.

The lawyer said that Sun has requested a public hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to defend his innocence against alleged anti-doping rule violations.

He said that the swimmer wanted to have the public hearing “in order to be fully transparent and to clear his name.”

The lawyers hit out at a recent article in The Sunday Telegraph which they said had published “an incomplete and biased account of the drug testing on Sun Yang” involving confidential information.

The article referred to legal proceedings before FINA which led to FINA dismissing the case against Sun Yang, the statement said.

“These proceedings were confidential but that did not stop the Sunday Telegraph from publishing its shocking article which defamed Sun Yang.

“The matter is before CAS who will try the appeal brought by the World Anti Doping Authority. It is CAS and CAS alone who should hear this appeal.”

The lawyers said that Sun had refused to finish a doping test last year as he believed the doping control officers sent to test him “were not properly accredited to carry out the out of competition tests.”

“Worse, while he was fully cooperating, Sun Yang noticed during the test that one of the authorised officers was secretly filming him without his permission,” the lawyer said.

“The act was resoundingly condemned by FINA in its judgment in Sun Yang’s favour.”

The lawyer said Sun Yang had asked the testing officers to show their accreditation “but to no avail”.

They said it also appeared that the nurse was not authorised to draw blood in China.

The lawyers said that Sun Yang was willing to be tested but had requested that other testing officers should be sent with proper accreditation but the testing officers who were trying to test him refused.

“The officers then decided to stop the testing and gave the blood samples back to Sun Yang,” the statement said.

The latest controversy in the pool comes at a time when Australia’s relations with China are under strain as a result of Australia’s protests against the treatment of an Australian Chinese writer, Yang Hengjun, who has been in detention since his arrest in January and the Federal Government’s ban last year on the use of equipment by Chinese telecommunications giant for the next generation 5G network.

With Heidi Han, Remy Varga and AAP