Sun Yang backlash: Chinese fans turn on their hero and apologise to ‘hated’ Aussie Mack Horton
- Social media users ‘spray’ Sun after widespread publication of the Court of Arbitration for Sport report
- Report lists a variety of indiscretions against the swimmer and his support team, including witness tampering and a refusal to admit contrition
Horton, who has been feuding with Sun since 2014 over the China star’s drugs ban, has long been the target of Chinese swim fans as they defended their hero.
However, that has changed since the publication of the 78-page CAS report of its findings from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against Sun and swimming governing body Fina.
Since the report was published on the CAS website on Wednesday, it has been widely reported in Chinese and support for the swimmer has diminished.
On online portal Sina Sports, comments saw users “spray” Sun, as the Chinese internet vernacular describes criticism. Sina Sports has exhaustively covered the CAS report with each article seeing thousands of comments as the topic trends.
It was a similar story on microblogging site Weibo, often described as the Chinese Twitter, where users expressed an antipathy not before seen towards Sun Yang, with many pointing out the swimmer deleted all of his post-verdict posts purporting to offer new “evidence”.
Others stuck the boot in, with Sun called a “baby” by many. User Yuan Guoqing was among them, pointing out the lenient treatment the swimmer had been given through his career for crashing his SUV when driving without a licence and wearing his own sponsor’s clothing at the Asian Games but not at CAS.
Another user, called “Leo Car Art”, summed it all up. “Now public opinion is not on your side you can be arrogant.” That was echoed by “Sweeter is writing a novel” who wrote, “Sun Yang’s arrogance, rudeness and answering questions asked at the scene were regrettable.”
“Sun Yang’s final speech did not mention any words that he violated the law and put privacy and the Olympic spirit on the neck of the court. This team is stupid and evil.”
The backlash has also manifested in English-language social media with Chinese swim fans bypassing the Great Firewall to access Instagram, a site banned in the mainland, to apologise to Horton.
Hundreds of comments to that end appeared on Horton’s two most recent Instagram posts, with messages such as that posted by user named “zhaoxiliuu”.
“I apologise for those who insulted you. Even if everyone attacks you like this, you have never made hate speech against China. Now everyone knows the truth and supports you to maintain the fairness of the game. Lot of Respect.”
Another, from a user named “rionay_rex”, went further. “Hi Mack, we Chinese just found your weibo account which is still active 5 years before. Sometimes our Chinese could not get the truth, but most of us are kind and goodness person, the reason why we abuse you is because our emotion was taken advantages by the few’s interests, I am sorry for what my compatriots did to you.”
A user called “paul.dirac123” wrote: “I want to apologise to you for my wrong words. You are right and I know you don’t hate China but only hate Sun’s action. Sorry!”
This is all a 180 from the usual comments that Horton has received from fans of Sun. Media outlets such as the Daily Mail ran articles on the response to the China star’s eight-year ban on February 28. The Mail’s was headlined “Sun Yang’s fans flood swimmer Mack Horton’s Instagram with hate.”
A majority of earlier comments had featured the term “NMSL”, a term from Chinese social media that translates as “Your mother has died” and is often translated as wishing death on the recipient.
That sentiment appears to have changed following the publication of the full CAS report.
Wada asked for Sun’s medals from the 2019 world championships in South Korea to be rescinded, which would see Horton given the 400m freestyle gold.
