Australian swimmer Mack Horton took a stand at the 2019 FINA World Championships by, well, not taking a stand.
After winning a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle event in Gwangju, South Korea on Sunday, Horton refused to step up to the podium and take a picture with the gold medalist, China’s Sun Yang.
Horton was protesting Yang being allowed to swim in the event despite a pending hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport that could potentially end the Chinese swimmer’s career. The 23-year-old has a history of criticizing Yang, who was suspended for three months in 2014 after testing positive for a banned stimulant called trimetazidine.
“This is going to continue to brew over the next 12 months.”
Tensions were high on the men’s 400m free podium, Australian Mack Horton refused to stand next to Chinese swimmer Sun Yang who's facing allegations of doping rule violations that could result in a #Tokyo2020 ban pic.twitter.com/9QN1VfUln7 — CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 21, 2019
Following Horton’s protest, FINA announced that it would send a written warning to Horton and his country’s swimming governing body.
“While FINA respects the principle of freedom of speech, it has to be conducted in the right context,” the statement said.
The target of Horton’s protest told reporters that he didn’t mind the personal shot, but said he believed the gesture also disrespected China, according to the Associated Press.
"Disrespecting me was OK, but disrespecting China was unfortunate," Sun said.”I feel sorry about that."
As for the man himself, he decided to let the protest speak for itself.
“I don’t think I need to say anything,” Horton reportedly said. “His actions and how it has been handled speaks louder than anything I could say.”