Mack Horton

Mackenzie "Mack" Horton OAM (born 25 April 1996) is an Australian freestyle swimmer. He is an Olympic gold medallist, World Championships medallist, and Commonwealth Games medallist. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he finished first in the 400m freestyle, winning his first gold medal and became the first male swimmer from the state of Victoria to do so in the Games' history.[4][5]

Mack Horton
Personal information
Full nameMackenzie Horton
Nickname(s)"Mack" "Mack the Knife"[1]
National team Australia
Born (1996-04-25) 25 April 1996[2]
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height190 cm (6 ft 3 in)[3]
Weight88 kg (194 lb)[3]
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubMelbourne Vicentre[3]
CoachCraig Jackson[3]

Career

Horton first represented Australia at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu, where he won gold in the 1500 metre freestyle in a championship record time of 15:10.07.[6] At the same meet, he finished second in the 400-metre freestyle[7] and 4th in the 800-metre freestyle.[8]

Two months later at the final leg of the 2012 World Cup in Singapore, Horton won the 1500 metre freestyle event in 14:54.25.[9]

At the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival, Horton won gold in the 1500 metre freestyle event.[10]

Eight months later at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Dubai, Horton won five gold medals and a silver. He took out the 200 m,[11] 400 m,[12] 800 m[13] and 1500 m freestyle events[14] and alongside Luke Percy, Regan Leong and Blake Jones won the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay[15] all in new Championships record times. The team of Horton, Leong, Isaac Jones and Jack McLoughlin finished second behind the British in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay event.[16]

Horton qualified for his first senior team at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships where he won the 1500 metre freestyle in 14:51.55[17] and finished second behind David McKeon in the 400-metre freestyle in 3:44.60,[18] setting two new junior world records.[19] Horton also finished 5th in the 200-metre freestyle in 1:47.36[20] which also set a new junior world record.[21]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Horton won the silver medal in the 1500 metre freestyle in new junior world record time[22] of 14:48.76[23] and narrowly missed the podium in the 400-metre freestyle finishing in fourth place in 3:44.91.[24] In the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay event, Horton alongside Thomas Fraser-Holmes, David McKeon and Ned McKendry finished as the fastest qualifies with Horton swimming the anchor leg in 1:49.17.[25] In the final, Horton was replaced by Cameron McEvoy and they went on to win the gold in a new games record time of 7:07.38.[26]

"It feels like all my hard work has paid off and being able to back up with two big competitions this year has given me more confidence for the future and I'm really excited to see how far I can go."

Mack Horton, 24 August 2014[27]

Three weeks later at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Gold Coast, Australia, Horton won the silver medal in the 800-metre freestyle in 7.47.73,[28] the bronze medal in the 1500 metre freestyle in 14:52.78[29] and with McKeon, McEvoy and Fraser-Holmes won bronze in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay in 7:08.55.[30]

In April 2014, Horton became an ambassador for Horton's Heroes Water Polo team (SHWP) with the swimwear brand Speedo[31] and in August 2014, after his breakthrough performances he was named the winner of the Georgina Hope Foundation Rising Star of the Australian Swim Team.[27]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Horton represented Australia in the 400 m freestyle, in which he won gold, and the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, in which he finished 4th with his teammates.[32] He finished 5th in the final of the 1500 m freestyle.

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, Horton won silver in the 400 m freestyle event where he came runner up to Sun Yang. In a controversial "stand-off" Horton refused to shake the hand of Sun or to stand on the winners' podium. Horton had previously called Sun a "drug cheat". On 28 February 2020, Sun was issued an 8 year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for tampering with the doping control process,[33][34] with calls to reissue medals from affected events,[35] though the CAS clarified that Sun would not be stripped of any of his medals because "doping tests performed on [Sun] shortly before and after the aborted doping control in September 2018 were negative" and "in the absence of any evidence that [Sun] may have engaged in doping activity ... the results achieved by [Sun] in the period prior to the CAS award being issued should not be disqualified."[36]

Horton has been criticized for remaining silent on Australian swimmers who have faced punishments for violating anti-doping rules.[37]

Career-best times
Event Time Record Meet
Long course
200 m freestyle1:45.89 2018 Commonwealth Games
400 m freestyle3:41.55 2016 Summer Olympics
800 m freestyle7:44.02 2015 World Aquatics Championships
1500 m freestyle14:39.54[38] 2016 Australian Championships

See also

References
  1. Kitson, Robert (7 August 2016). "Mack Horton speaks out after golden swim as unrest poisons Rio pool". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  2. "Profile of Mack Horton". Glasgow 2014. 29 July 2014. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  3. "Profile of Mack Horton". Swimming Australia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. "Mack Horton wins gold in 400m freestyle". Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  5. "Mack Horton the first Victorian swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal". Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  6. "Results of the boys' 1500 metre freestyle at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". Pan Pacific Swimming Association. 24 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. "Results of the boys' 400-metre freestyle at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". Pan Pacific Swimming Association. 25 August 2012. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. "Results of the boys' 800-metre freestyle at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". Pan Pacific Swimming Association. 27 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  9. "Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2012 FINA Swimming World Cup event in Singapore" (pdf). Omega SA. 11 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  10. "Results of the boys' 1500 metre freestyle at the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival". AOC. January 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  11. "Results of the boys' 200-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships" (PDF). FINA. 31 August 2013. p. 42. Archived from the original (pdf) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  12. "Results of the boys' 400-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships" (PDF). FINA. 31 August 2013. p. 1. Archived from the original (pdf) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  13. "Results of the boys' 800-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships" (PDF). FINA. 31 August 2013. p. 73. Archived from the original (pdf) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  14. "Results of the boys' 1500 metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships" (PDF). FINA. 31 August 2013. p. 141. Archived from the original (pdf) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  15. "Results of the boys' 4 × 100-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships" (PDF). FINA. 31 August 2013. p. 23. Archived from the original (pdf) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  16. "Results of the boys' 4 × 200-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships" (PDF). FINA. 31 August 2013. p. 95. Archived from the original (pdf) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  17. "Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle final at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships". Swimming Australia. 6 April 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  18. "Results of the men's 400-metre freestyle final at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships". Swimming Australia. 1 April 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  19. Marsteller, Jason (1 April 2014). "FINA world junior records can begin being set today". Swimming World. Sports Publications International. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  20. "Results of the men's 200-metre freestyle final at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships". Swimming Australia. 2 April 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  21. Marsteller, Jason (2 April 2014). "Thomas Fraser-Holmes proves successful with difficult double on night two of Aussie nationals". Swimming World. Sports Publications International. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  22. Lord, Craig (14 August 2014). "Park Tae-Hwan leads the speed in realm of rare catch-up mission for USA at Pan Pacs". swimvortex.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  23. "Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games". Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  24. "Results of the men's 400-metre freestyle final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games". Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  25. "Results of heat 2 of the men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games". Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  26. "Results of the men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games". Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  27. Stewart, Mel (24 August 2014). "Mack Horton presented the Georgina Hope Foundation Rising Star of the Australian Swim Team". swimswam.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  28. "Results of the men's 800-metre freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". Swimming Australia. 24 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  29. "Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". Swimming Australia. 21 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  30. "Results of the men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". Swimming Australia. 22 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  31. "Speedo signs Australian rising star swimmer Mack Horton". Swimming Australia. 9 April 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  32. "2016 Australian Olympic Swimming Team selected". Australian Olympic Committee. 14 April 2016. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  33. "World Swimming Championships: Sun Yang wins 400m freestyle but bad blood with Mack Horton spills over". Independent. Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  34. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/28/olympic-swimming-champion-sun-yang-banned-for-eight-years-after-cas-ruling
  35. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-28/sun-yang-banned-from-swimming-for-eight-years/12012900
  36. "Sun Yang Verdict: Ryan Cochrane And Chad Le Clos On The Lasting Pain Of Loss". Swimming World News.
  37. "The elephant in the room Mack Horton must address". The Sydney Morning Herald. "He [Horton] does not seem to have too much of an issue with other athletes who violate anti-doping rules, such as teammate Thomas Fraser-Holmes, who… was one of two Australian swimmers to serve 12-month suspensions starting in 2017 for missing three drugs tests in the space of 12 months. The other was Jarrod Poort."
  38. Lord, Craig (14 April 2016). "Horton Passes Perkins Chasing Hackett in Lake of Legends – 14:39; McLoughlin 14:48". Swimvortex. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
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