Horton had refused to stand on the podium with Yang at the world championship in 2018 and had also branded him a "drug cheat" at Rio.
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Australian swimmer Mack Horton brushed aside questions about his Chinese counterpart Sun Yang at a press conference on Thursday. The two have a tumultuous relationship and it is well in the public eye. In 2018, Horton refused to stand on the podium next to Yang as the latter won his fourth consecutive 400-metre world championship gold medal and Horton was placed second. Two years prior, it was Horton who won gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, and Yang who finished in second place. Horton branded him a “drug cheat” after their contest he The Games that year. Yang might once again be one of Horton’s competitors at the Tokyo Olympics in a couple of months’ time.
“It bothers me when I keep getting asked about it,” Mack Horton said. “I don’t really think about it to be honest. We haven’t qualified. There is so much focus on just trying to make the team, there is no mental capacity for all that peripheral stuff.”
However, there are doubts over Yang’s participation in the upcoming Olympic Games. The decision on the Chinese swimmer’s participation will be taken by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later this month. The CAS banned Yang for eight years last year for refusing to submit samples for a surprise doping test where a vial of his blood was smashed.
However, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland ordered a retrial stating “doubts as to the impartiality of an arbitrator were objectively justified” after CAS judge Franco Frattini had made anti-China social media posts. Frattini has been barred from Yang’s retrial from May 24-28.
Horton, on the other hand, is more concerned over his spot in Australia’s Olympic team. This is because he had poor performances in last month’s nationals. He rankled a lowly 35th in the 200-meter freestyle and seventh in the 800 freestyle. He even and withdrew from his pet event over 400 meters.
“It’s really reflective probably of what I can do in training,” Horton said. “It doesn’t really phase me. I’m just trying to swim as fast as I can and trials is a high-pressure environment. Everyone wants to get through that and then it’s just a refocus for the Olympics. With trials being closer to the Olympics as well, the pressure is now builds because there is already so much focus already on the Olympics, particularly with the media,” he concluded.
