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The important caveat in the Mack Horton debate everyone's forgetting

Is Mack Horton a hero? Or has he gone too far? (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
24th July, 2019
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It’s a controversy that’s taken the swimming world by storm, with Australia’s Mack Horton refusing to stand on the podium alongside China’s Sung Yan in apparent protest of his recent dealings with FINA’s doping authority.

Horton, who won silver, has had a tense history with Yang, who was previously suspended for three months by the Chinese Swimming Federation in 2014 for using banned substance trimetazidine.

More recently, however, Sun attracted a firestorm of controversy when he and a security guard smashed vials containing his blood in front of doping authorities. While FINA accepted a panel’s decision that the blood samples in question were collected improperly and without authorisation, WADA have appealed the decision.

With so many questions marks as to what’s actually going on – is Horton’s protest justified?

We got Roar expert Glenn Mitchell on the Game of Codes podcast to analyse the Horton-Yang stoush and make a call on what’s fair and what’s too far.

Listen to the discussion:

Horton’s protests have, unfortunately, taken attention away from some Australian achievements in the pool – most notably 18-year-old Ariarne Titmus’ stunning upset of US superstar Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle.

Visit our Game of Codes hub to catch the full episode and be sure to subscribe and review on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever else you’re listening.

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