2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Swimming: August 6-13
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
- Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
- SwimSwam previews
- Schedule & Results
- Live Stream (NBC)
The Olympic feud between China’s Sun Yang and Australia’s Mack Horton continued to gather steam after their 400 free final in Rio. If you haven’t been following the quick-moving saga, we first reported Sun allegedly antagonized Horton in the warm-up pool on Thursday. Then Horton followed up by commenting to the media, “He splashed me to say hi and I ignored him because I don’t have time for drug cheats.”
The pair met in the final of the 400 free on Saturday night, with Horton touching out Sun by .13, 3:41.55 to 3:41.68. During the post-race press conference, Horton continued his verbal assault. The Brisbane Times reported Horton stating “I used the word ‘drug cheat’ because he tested positive. I just have a problem with him testing positive and still competing,” with Sun sitting right next to him.
According to The South China Morning Post, Sun responded by accusing Horton of playing mind games to destabilize him. “I don’t think I need to explain myself any further. I have done what it takes to prove I’m clean … all athletes should be shown respect. On the competition stage, every athlete deserves to be respected and there’s no need to use these sorts of cheap tricks to affect each other.”
The mind games seemed to hit their mark, though, as Sun reacted to his disappointment by bursting into tears in the mixed zone at the conclusion of the race.
#CHN swimmer #Sunyang cries bitterly over losing gold medal in men’s 400m freestyle #Rio2016https://t.co/zdi5iPmKqu
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 7, 2016
Horton and Sun will meet again in the 1500 meter free, which the former won in London with a world record.
it’s a maricel! that sun yang,
still holds the records of the
1500m he’s still the king!
yes yes yes!!!
Mack Horton has to loose the 1500m
he doesn’t deserve to win,
he has to loose!!!!
he’s going to loose,
I wish sun yang had another chance
if he wasn’t feeling well,
Clean athletes work like Trojans. Nothing but clean hard work. Drug cheats should be banned for life. End of story. Mark Horton is a clean living legend. Well done for standing your ground.
sun yang king! of the world,
Mack Horton looks like a Tasmanian devil!
he’s so ugly, its scary!!
he’s a Tasmanian devil
sun yang is awesome!
he’s so cute, he’s is the king
1500m, long live the king!!!????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????
sun yang is the cutest,
he’s a super star!!!!
he brightens the Olympics!!!
in every way, he’s a good man,