Mac Horton (27, Australia), the men’s 400m freestyle gold medalist in swimming at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, announced his retirement from international competitions.Horton said through the Australian Swimming Federation on the 21st, “There was a time when I dreamed of participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but now my desire to participate in the Olympics has disappeared. I gave everything I had for swimming. I have no regrets. Now is the time to step away.” “It is the right time,” he said.“It was a great honor to represent Australia in international competitions,” he said, adding, “Now I will step away from the competition and wish the Australian national team every success.”
Horton won a gold medal at the Rio Olympics and a bronze medal as a member of the men’s 800m relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.At the long course (50m) World Aquatics Championships, she won one gold medal, two silver medals, and two bronze medals.Horton also attracted attention by expressing his antipathy towards Chinese swimming star Sun Yang, who caused the ‘doping controversy’.Sun Yang was suspended for eight years in 2020 for interfering with the activities of testers who visited his home in China to collect samples for doping tests in September 2018.The disciplinary start date is February 28, 2020.
Afterwards, in a retrial at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Sun Yang’s period of suspension was reduced to four years and three months.The last international competition where Sun Yang appeared was the 2019 Gwangju World Championships.At that time, Sun Yang took first place and Horton took second place in the men’s 400m freestyle.After winning the silver medal at the awards ceremony, Horton distanced himself from Sun Yang on the podium.During the medalist commemorative photo, he ignored Sun Yang and stood shoulder to shoulder with bronze medalist Gabriele Deti, expressing dissatisfaction with Sun Yang’s participation in the World Championships, which had sparked a 스포츠토토존 doping controversy.