Aussie Mack Horton boycotts 'drug cheat' Sun Yang's gold medal podium at world championships

[TruthTheOnlyDefense]

What started as a bitter rivalry may have escalated into an international incident after Sun Yang accused Australia's Mack Horton of disrespecting China in a stunning podium protest at the world swimming titles in South Korea.

Olympic champion Horton refused to shake hands with Sun or stand on the podium after being relegated to 400m freestyle silver by the controversial Chinese star at Gwangju on an unforgettable opening night of the eight-day titles on Sunday.

It remains to be seen if Horton faces sanction from world body FINA over his protest.

"Frustration is probably it. I think you know in what respect," Horton said after the race.

"I think you know what the rivalry is like. His actions - and how it's been handled - speak louder than anything I'll ever say."

Mack Horton boycotts the gold medal podium of China's Sun Yang (C). (PA/AAP)

Horton made the bold statement after admitting he was unhappy that Sun had been allowed to compete at the world titles ahead of a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in September that may end the Chinese star's career.

The 10-time world champion will answer charges of smashing vials of his blood with a hammer during a clash last year with testers.

Sun - who claimed a fourth straight 400m world title - faces a lifetime ban if found guilty.

Horton copped vile social media abuse while the Chinese swimming team demanded an official apology after he dismissed Sun as a "drug cheat" ahead of the Rio Olympics.

Their feud only escalated after Horton upset Sun - who served a three month doping ban in 2014 - to claim a shock 400m freestyle gold at the 2016 Games.

Mack Horton (L) refused to be photographed with Sun Yang (C) after the podium. (PA/AAP)

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.

"He has been very strong and vocal about this in the past ... you can only respect him for what he does.

"Mack stands for what he stands for. Nobody can take that away from him, nobody should."

Dolphins team leader Cate Campbell - another vocal critic of Sun in the past - championed Morton's stand.

"I support clean sport and I support swimmers standing up for their beliefs and I think that Mack did an incredible job and we'll take it as a win for Australia," she said.

Campbell later wrote on Instagram: "Taking a stand for clean sport. Mack Horton, we salute you."

Yet former Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority chief executive Richard Ings said that Horton should be sanctioned over his actions.

Horton's swim was a personal triumph, after he failed to qualify for the 400m at Australia's selection trials and was granted a spot at Verhaeren's discretion.

Asked if he was back, Horton said: “Kind of. I am going in the right direction."

©AAP2019

https://wwos.nine.com.au/swimming/h...hina-sun/76a7ca84-0208-46da-b6ed-022410543bad

 

[BL33D]

What started as a bitter rivalry may have escalated into an international incident after Sun Yang accused Australia's Mack Horton of disrespecting China in a stunning podium protest at the world swimming titles in South Korea.

Olympic champion Horton refused to shake hands with Sun or stand on the podium after being relegated to 400m freestyle silver by the controversial Chinese star at Gwangju on an unforgettable opening night of the eight-day titles on Sunday.

It remains to be seen if Horton faces sanction from world body FINA over his protest.

"Frustration is probably it. I think you know in what respect," Horton said after the race.

"I think you know what the rivalry is like. His actions - and how it's been handled - speak louder than anything I'll ever say."

Mack Horton boycotts the gold medal podium of China's Sun Yang (C). (PA/AAP)

Horton made the bold statement after admitting he was unhappy that Sun had been allowed to compete at the world titles ahead of a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in September that may end the Chinese star's career.

The 10-time world champion will answer charges of smashing vials of his blood with a hammer during a clash last year with testers.

Sun - who claimed a fourth straight 400m world title - faces a lifetime ban if found guilty.

Horton copped vile social media abuse while the Chinese swimming team demanded an official apology after he dismissed Sun as a "drug cheat" ahead of the Rio Olympics.

Their feud only escalated after Horton upset Sun - who served a three month doping ban in 2014 - to claim a shock 400m freestyle gold at the 2016 Games.

Mack Horton (L) refused to be photographed with Sun Yang (C) after the podium. (PA/AAP)

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.

"He has been very strong and vocal about this in the past ... you can only respect him for what he does.

"Mack stands for what he stands for. Nobody can take that away from him, nobody should."

Dolphins team leader Cate Campbell - another vocal critic of Sun in the past - championed Morton's stand.

"I support clean sport and I support swimmers standing up for their beliefs and I think that Mack did an incredible job and we'll take it as a win for Australia," she said.

Campbell later wrote on Instagram: "Taking a stand for clean sport. Mack Horton, we salute you."

Yet former Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority chief executive Richard Ings said that Horton should be sanctioned over his actions.

Horton's swim was a personal triumph, after he failed to qualify for the 400m at Australia's selection trials and was granted a spot at Verhaeren's discretion.

Asked if he was back, Horton said: “Kind of. I am going in the right direction."

©AAP2019

https://wwos.nine.com.au/swimming/h...hina-sun/76a7ca84-0208-46da-b6ed-022410543bad

So an athlete under scrutiny for drug abuse has been allowed to take away chances of other athletes irrespective of him coming out guilty or not. WADA is toothless.

 

[JSCh]

That Mr. Horton is a poor loser. If he decided to participate in the event then he should follow the games etiquette and rule, not his own. I am sure if he had won, Sun Yang would not act as he did.

Swim star Sun Yang wants CAS public hearing over WADA appeal | AP News
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
July 19, 2019

GENEVA (AP) — China’s star swimmer Sun Yang wants a public trial at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in September to defend himself against alleged doping rule violations that risk a ban from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Friday, lawyers for Sun said he will ask for an open process from the Lausanne-based sports court “in order to be fully transparent and to clear his name.”

The request follows details of an earlier verdict — by world swim body FINA’s doping tribunal — being reported in an Australian newspaper on the eve of the world championships in South Korea where Sun is preparing to compete.

“It is CAS and CAS alone who should hear this appeal and Sun Yang objects to being tried by the Australian press,” said the lawyers, based in Beijing, Geneva and London, criticizing “flagrant breaches of confidentiality.”

The three-time Olympic champion’s case could be the first in public at CAS since a European Court of Human Rights ruling last year gave athletes more rights to open the sports court to scrutiny.

Sun faces an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The Montreal-based agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about a possible public hearing.

WADA is challenging a decision by swimming’s governing body, FINA, just to warn him over incidents during a doping control team’s attempts to take blood and urine samples at his home in China last September.

Media reports this year claimed Sun and his entourage destroyed a blood sample in a dispute that escalated after he questioned officials’ credentials.

“Worse, while he was fully cooperating, Sun Yang then noticed during the test that one of the unauthorized officers was secretly filming him without his permission,” said the statement from his lawyers.

The dispute continued beyond 11 p.m. and his request for replacement officials from Swedish-based collection agency International Doping Tests and Management was denied, his lawyers claimed.

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

The case threatens the reputation and career of the first Chinese swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal.

The 27-year-old freestyler won gold at each of the past two Olympics, in the 400 and 1,500 meters at the 2012 London Games and in the 200 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Between those two Olympics, Sun served a three-month ban in 2014 for testing positive for a substance then classed as a stimulant. That case was conducted in relative secrecy in China and only belatedly announced by FINA.

Sun faces a more severe sanction if CAS judges he broke doping rules a second time.

In South Korea, Sun is seeking individual gold medals for a fifth straight world championships, which were unaffected by his previous ban.

 

[Beidou2020]

Mack Horton should be banned for his protest. Sun Yang was cleared by the swimming authorities (FINA) to compete.

If Mack Horton doesn’t accept the official word of FINA, then he should not be allowed to compete in FINA events.

I personally think doping should be legalised across all sports. What’s the reason to still ban doping in sports? To have ‘clean’ athletes? To make it ‘fair’?

All physical-based sports have doping. The more advanced countries have the technology to always beat the existing anti-doping system so they don’t get caught even though they are actually doping. To even out the playing field, doping should be legalised.

 

[BL33D]

Mack Horton should be banned for his protest. Sun Yang was cleared by the swimming authorities (FINA) to compete.

If Mack Horton doesn’t accept the official word of FINA, then he should not be allowed to compete in FINA events.

I personally think doping should be legalised across all sports. What’s the reason to still ban doping in sports? To have ‘clean’ athletes? To make it ‘fair’?

All physical-based sports have doping. The more advanced countries have the technology to always beat the existing anti-doping system so they don’t get caught even though they are actually doping. To even out the playing field, doping should be legalised.

In future people will be genetically modified to have better muscles and bones to excel in sports, i think we are very close to that scenario. But your argument that it should be legal is absurd. Its about the human capability and skills. Play esports if you wanna cheat that bad.

 

[Beidou2020]

In future people will be genetically modified to have better muscles and bones to excel in sports, i think we are very close to that scenario. But your argument that it should be legal is absurd. Its about the human capability and skills. Play esports if you wanna cheat that bad.

It’s not about human capability and skills anymore. It’s about having the best system to beat the doping system.

Vast majority of these athletes are doping, especially from the more developed countries.

Only the gullible believe all these athletes are ‘clean’. Sport is a business, you do anything to win.

 

[BL33D]

It’s not about human capability and skills anymore. It’s about having the best system to beat the doping system.

Vast majority of these athletes are doping, especially from the more developed countries.

Only the gullible believe all these athletes are ‘clean’. Sport is a business, you do anything to win.

Well, i dont disagree there will be such people who will try to cheat the system but the integrity shouldnt be lost becoz of that, the majority of the athletes do not dope, and that value should be preserved. With your attitude you would have been okay with slavery, conquests, epidemics, crusades etc, just becoz they happen doesnt mean we have to make it mainstream.

 

[JSCh]

Swimming superstar Sun Yang has been called a drug cheat, but do the facts stack up?
By Tracey Holmes
Updated Sun at 5:46am

When the Swimming World Championships get underway in Gwangju, South Korea, this morning, more than 1 billion people will be taking an interest in one race above all — the men's 400 metres freestyle.

Many Australians will be following the fate of Rio Olympic Games champion Mack Horton, who failed to qualify for any event in Gwangju but was selected anyway.

Everyone will be watching the man Horton beat at the Olympics — defending world champion Sun Yang from China, a man widely considered the one of the greatest freestyle swimmers of all time.

In the West, much has been written about Sun and the hammer that was used to smash a vial of his blood, preventing drug testers taking it for analysis last September.

Swimmers are being asked what they think and, naturally, they are not impressed — they say they want their sport to crack down on "drug cheats".

One of this country's top swimmers, Cate Campbell, told The Australian "there are discussions that need to be held", while America's Lilly King says the sport's governing body can start with "not letting people who have smashed blood vials in tests compete in their meets".

Listening to the questions posed by journalists and the swimmers' answers reveals no one seems to have actually read the detailed findings of an official inquiry into Sun.

Yes, there has been one, and the doping tribunal found the Chinese swimmer not guilty. Why was he let off? Because the drug testers failed to follow their own procedures.


...

Swimming superstar Sun Yang has been called a drug cheat, but do the facts stack up? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[casual]

So an athlete under scrutiny for drug abuse has been allowed to take away chances of other athletes irrespective of him coming out guilty or not. WADA is toothless.

Whatever happened to innocence until proven guilty? Further, he's proven innocent. Please get your facts before forming an opinion. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-21/sun-yang-doping-case-more-complicated-than-it-seems/11328364

 

[third eye]

What the trials / tests say does not matter till they are complete & results are made public.

What matters is which part of what he is protesting about now did the Aussie not know when he jumped into the pool to compete with the Chinese ?

If he felt so strongly, he ought to have stayed away as a mark of protest. Had he he stood first & the Chinese second , would he still have stayed away from the podium ?

 

[SEAISI]

Horton is "kneeling" in front of Sun. What a dopey idiot LOL

 

[Beidou2020]

Well, i dont disagree there will be such people who will try to cheat the system but the integrity shouldnt be lost becoz of that, the majority of the athletes do not dope, and that value should be preserved. With your attitude you would have been okay with slavery, conquests, epidemics, crusades etc, just becoz they happen doesnt mean we have to make it mainstream.

The world has always been unfair to the non-Western people of the world for the past 500 years.

The West has used colonialism, slavery, and theft in the past 500 years to get ahead of the rest of the world. Now they are trying to be the moral leaders of the world when the rest of the world are catching up to them in every area.

It’s the hypocrisy that pisses me off.

America would be nothing without having free labour using slavery to develop their country. Britain would be nothing without the fortune they stole from their colonial adventures when they committed genocide on the colonised countries. The Anglophone countries are the absolute worst hypocrites. They play unfair and tell others to play fairly.

America has an entire drug culture. They have labs that are solely dedicated to beating the doping system. Just look at the BALCO scandal. All privately done. Their big 4 sports leagues are rampant with doping.

This is why I don’t give a damn when the West screams about others ‘stealing’ Western technology or doping in sport.

 

[JSCh]

Sun Yang wins gold in men's 200m freestyle at FINA Worlds
Source: Xinhua| 2019-07-23 21:39:19|Editor: Wu Qin

Gold medalist Sun Yang of China poses during the awarding ceremony after the men's 200m freestyle final at the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, July 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)

GWANGJU, South Korea, July 23 (Xinhua) -- China's triple Olympic champion Sun Yang won the men's 200m freestyle final, snatching his second gold medal at the 18th FINA World Championships here on Tuesday.

Sun clocked 1:44.93 to touch home first in the final. He was followed by Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan, who took the silver medal in 1:45.22.

Martin Malyutin of Russia and Duncan Scott of Britain tied for the bronze with a time of 1:45.63.

Dana Rapsys of Lithuania completed the course first, but he was disqualified for a false start.

"It is the first time for me to experience such a thing, also the luckiest time for me. But I think the luck came after I have done what I should do," said the winner Sun.

"After the 800m freestyle heats in the morning, my muscle is not in a good condition. And I'm the only one from the 800 freestyle event to compete in tonight's race," said Sun.

It was the second gold medal for Sun in Gwangju after he claimed his fourth consecutive world title in the men's 400 freestyle on Sunday.

Sun retained his world title in the 200m free, after taking gold in the event in Budapest two years ago. He will hunt for his third gold medal of the championships in the men's 800m freestyle final on Wednesday evening.

"I want to use the races to stimulate myself and to improve myself. Tonight's result is my best for the past two years. I think, my result and my spirits deserve respect from my rivals," said Sun.

With the two more golds, Sun became the second-highest world title holder with 11 individual gold medals in the Worlds. Michael Phelps of the United States leads the table with 15 golds from individual events.

 

[beijingwalker]

Horton is "kneeling" in front of Sun. What a dopey idiot LOL

LOL, I also notice that , from an angle he does appear to kneel down before Sun Yang, such a sore loser, he didn't even make it into the final list of men's 800-meter race, losers gonna lose.

What goes around comes around

No Horton vs Sun in 800 free after Aussie fails to qualify
By NDT Bureau on July 23, 2019
https://www.newdelhitimes.com/no-horton-vs-sun-in-800-free-after-aussie-fails-to-qualify/

 

[beijingwalker]

I m so happy to see this loser's face, he couldn't even make it to the final for 800 meters race, that typical sore loser facial expression is just hilarious, lol...