The Daily Telegraph - 24.07.2019

ravery in

sport takes

many forms.

Sometimes it

means taking

a stand or a knee. Other

times, such as in the case

of Australian swimmer

Mack Horton, it means

not taking the stand at all.

On Sunday night,

Horton was beaten into

second place by Sun Yang

in the 400 metres

freestyle final at the

World Championships in

South Korea. At the

medal ceremony, Horton

refused to share the

medal podium with Sun

or shake hands, although

he happily posed beside

Italian bronze medallist

Gabriele Detti.

The message behind

the protest was that

Horton did not want to

acknowledge a man he

has previously labelled a

drugs cheat. Standing

below him on the podium

would insinuate that

Swimmers’

anti-drugs

protests

put Fina

to shame

Governing body’s

apathy has left

competitors to

fight doping on

their own, writes

Daniel Schofield

at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Horton accused Sun of

splashing him in a

training session. He later

said: “I ignored him, I

don’t have time or

respect for drug cheats. I

just have a problem with

athletes who have tested

positive and are still

competing.”

That was in reference

to a three-month

suspension Sun served in

2014 after testing positive

for a banned stimulant

trimetazidine, which he

claimed had been for a

heart complaint. Then

came an extraordinary

episode last year in which

Sun was visited by

out-of-competition drugs

testers. According to a

leaked Fina report, Sun

refused to produce a

urine sample, claiming

the credentials of his

testers were insufficient.

He and his entourage

subsequently smashed a

vial of his own blood with

a hammer. Sun has

denied any claims of

wrongdoing.

Bang to rights?

Astonishingly – or should

that be inevitably? – Fina,

swimming’s governing

body, let Sun off on a

technicality. The World

Anti-Doping Agency has

appealed that verdict

with the Court of

Arbitration in Sport,

which would result in a

lifetime ban for Sun if

successful. That he was

allowed to compete in

South Korea defies belief.

Innocent until proven

guilty does not apply

when you are on your

third strike.

As the only Chinese to

have won Olympic titles

in the 200m, 400m and

1500m freestyle, Sun is

his country’s golden boy.

Horton and his family

have received a tsunami

of abuse on their social

media accounts,

including death threats,

with Sun accusing him of

“disrespecting China”.

It speaks volumes

about the efficacy of

sports authorities’ fight

against drugs that

athletes such as Horton

feel that it is incumbent

upon them to take on the

dopers themselves. When

Horton returned to the

athletes’ village, he

received a standing

ovation. Yesterday,

British swimmer Duncan

Scott followed Horton’s

lead by refusing to take

his place on the podium

for photos after the 200m

freestyle won by Sun. If

anyone knows about the

presence of cheats within

their midst, it is the

swimmers themselves.

Of course, Fina, which

lays a strong claim to

being the world’s most

inept sporting

organisation,

reprimanded Horton

over the affair. “While

Fina respects the

principle of freedom of

speech, it has to be

conducted in the right

context,” it said in a

statement. It is no

wonder that swimmers

have such little faith in

Fina after half of its

independent anti-doping

experts resigned after

it ignored

recommendations to

prohibit certain Russian

swimmers from

competing at the Rio

Olympics.

Hence the mantle of

taking on dopers has

fallen to courageous

individuals such as

Horton and the American

Lilly King, who called out

Russian drug cheat Yulia

Efimova while sitting

next to her at a press

conference at the Rio

Olympics. As King said

this week: “We don’t

think anyone at Fina’s

going to stand up for the

athletes, so the athletes

have to stand up for

themselves.”

The easy thing for

Horton would have been

to grit his teeth while

gurning and smiling for

the cameras with his arm

around Sun’s shoulder.

He knew what was

coming his way after the

last firestorm in 2016 and

he still went through

with his protest that will

provide an indelible

asterisk on Sun’s gold.

With Scott imitating

Horton’s action, this feels

like swimming’s “I am

Spartacus” moment in

the fight against doping.

Making his point: Mack Horton (left) refuses to join China’s Sun Yang (centre) on the podium

B

Horton

received a

standing

ovation back

at the athletes’

village

In tomorrow’s Sport section

Cricket special

Scyld Berry reports

from Lord’s as the

Test summer begins

Horton was beaten fair

and square, which he

clearly did not believe.

There is history here.

Horton and Sun clashed

Final whistle

16 *** Wednesday 24 July 2019 The Daily Telegraph
РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS