Australian website attacked after China ‘drug cheat’ comments

The heated confrontation between Australia and China over comments made by swimmer Mack Horton has been taken to a new height following a web attack on the Swimming Australia website.

Horton, who clinched the 400m freestyle gold medal at the Rio Olympic, has accused 200m freestyle champion Sun Yang of being a ‘drugs cheat’. In 2014 Yang served a silent three-month ban after testing positive for the banned stimulant Trimetazidine. The 1500m freestyle world record holder was handed a light sentence after telling authorities that he was provided the drug to treat a heart condition, and that he was further unaware it included a prohibited substance. Controversially, the Chinese anti-doping body failed to report the failed test until after Yang served his ban.

Yang has dismissed Horton’s comments and has stated that he does not use prohibited substances.

“I am clean and I’ve done whatever it takes to prove I’m a clean athlete,” He said.

The comments have sparked outrage in the Chinese sporting world, with officials demanding an apology from Horton. A statement released by the Chinese swimming team has called the comment a “malicious personal attack” on their athlete (per ABC Australia).

In an apparent escalation in what had been a mere war of words, the official website of Swimming Australia has been hit by a denial of service (DoS) attack. ABC Australia has reported that the website is functioning in a ‘under attack’ mode. There has been no comment about who launched the attack.

Earlier this week the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) refused to succumb to the pressure from China and supported Horton’s right to speak his mind.

“Mack is entitled to express his point of view,” the statement said. “Under the team values, [summed up by the acronym] ASPIRE, the ‘E’ stands for express yourself; that is his right. He has spoken out in support of clean athletes. This is something he feels strongly about and good luck to him.”

The swimming world has been marred by doping controversies this year, the most high-profile of which involved Russian swimmer Yuliya Yefimova, who was provisionally banned earlier this year for failing a drugs test for the second time since 2013. She was allowed to participate in Rio following a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, only to be called out by Team USA’s Lilly King following the American swimmer’s gold-medal win in the 100m breaststroke finals Monday night.