Horton’s stance is also fraught for a number of reasons.
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“I think where the situation is now it’s becoming a moral question versus a legal question, ” she said.
Then there’s the chance that this issue could escalate to the detriment of Horton’s, and possibly the Australian swim team’s, coming performances.
The Australian’s comments prompted a heated response on social media, where many Chinese fans described the remarks as unjustified. “I am sorry to my father, mother and uncle who were in the stand watching me, [I] have disappointed them”, said Sun when speaking to media after the race.
USA swimming star Michael Phelps followed Horton’s lead by also criticising the presence of drug cheats in Rio.
While the USA and Russian Federation have been entangled in the controversy surrounding Lilly King and Yulia Efimova, the Chinese and Australian swimming teams have been in a nasty feud of their own regarding doping.
But this is a story that goes way beyond medal counts.
In Rio to support the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympics, Johnson also backed calls for tougher sanctions on drug cheats, including a suggestion from IOC president Thomas Bach that athletes with two drug penalties should face a mandatory Olympic ban.
There are already some encouraging signs. To celebrate the win, Efimova held up her finger signalling a number one, which King was caught mocking behind the scenes.
“I do not like not being on the podium”. And we should hear more from athletes in other sports where there’s clearly still controversy – sports such as cycling, athletics and weightlifting to name just three.
Why don’t our Olympic cyclists denounce the dopers riding with them in Rio?
The Aussie beat him in the 400m free after earlier stating how he “didn’t have time or respect for drug cheats”.
“The focus of the squabble will go beyond Horton’s ill manners and silliness”. Horton called Yang a “drug cheat“, sparking outrage from a number of different entities in China.
The stimulant was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list four months before Yang failed a doping test, but the champion swimmer subsequently defended himself by claiming he was prescribed it to treat heart palpitations. China can not be distracted from its own path of development, so it should turn a blind eye to what should be despised.Horton and his backers represent the dark side of Australian society, and it is time for us to look at the bright side of the Olympic Games.
That barb was in reference to Sun’s extremely shady 2014 suspension over a positive test for the drug trimetazidine.
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“I have to respect [the Court of Arbitration’s] decision even if it is something I don’t agree with”, the 19-year-old swimmer said.
