Mack Horton revived his feud with Sun Yang by refusing to share the medal podium after Sunday's race.GETTY IMAGES
Australian swimmer Mack Horton "publicly reignited his feud" with Chinese rival Sun Yang, years after accusing him of being a "drug cheat." Sun won the 400m freestyle at the FINA World Championships on Sunday. Horton later refused to share the medal podium with Sun, who has faced "fresh claims of violating doping protocols." Sun said, "Disrespecting me was OK, but disrespecting China was unfortunate." Sun served a three-month suspension in '14 for testing positive for banned stimulant trimetazidine. The pair's feud goes back to the '16 Rio Games. Sun will face a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in September following reports that he "avoided a drugs ban after destroying blood samples" (BBC, 7/22).
After the meet, Horton walked into the dining room at the athletes' village and received a "standing ovation." U.S. swimmer Matt Grevers said of Horton's gesture, "I think it just let him [Sun] know that, ‘Hey, it’s a weird incident and until it gets uncovered, we don’t fully trust you.'" On Monday, FINA sent a warning letter to Horton and Swimming Australia in which it stated, "Athletes and their entourages are aware of their responsibilities to respect FINA regulations and not use FINA events to make personal statements or gestures" (AP, 7/22).
