At first glance, the narrative seems simple.
Mackenzie Horton vanquishes the defending Olympic 400-metres freestyle champion, Sun Yang (pictured), and wins gold. Later, Horton declares that 'he has no time or respect for drug cheats'.
In 2014 China's Anti-Doping Authority had banned Sun Yang for three months, for testing positive to a prohibited stimulant. Journalists ask Horton if he meant Sun and he replies, 'I just have a problem with him testing positive and still competing.'
A fresh-faced clean athlete calling out a drug cheat from a powerful nation is a sound bite with universal allure, and the comment went global.
The vitriolic reactions from China, however, show that Horton and Sun's poolside spat is anything but simple. Especially in the context of China's self-proclaimed arc of progress, whereby the People's Republic once more assumes its mantle of 'great nation' status.
It is this positioning of eight very fast laps of freestyle within the context of international diplomacy that has elevated the stoush to Olympian heights.
Protestations about the participation of athletes with drug records strike chords with television publics worldwide. Some viewers wilfully believe that sporting greatness is still achievable for those who eschew illegal drugs in order to work harder and train more astutely than their competitors. For them, Michael Phelps is a champion example.
Thus in the face of systematic cheating in sports, from AFL's Essendon saga to Lance Armstrong's brazen efforts, someone prepared to proclaim the era of the cleanskin becomes immensely appealing. For many Australians, Horton was thus not only taking his place in the pantheon of our champion Olympians he was also sticking a thumb in the eye of the cynical drug cheats. Horton became our latest prophet for an Australia of the fair go. That much is clear.
"For 21st century Chinese, Horton's statements become yet more tasteless examples of foreign aggression, and a dismissal of China's perceived stature."
Less immediately obvious, however, is that Horton — whose nickname is 'Mack the Knife' — seems to ascribe to the Steve Waugh theory of mental disintegration. Mack admitted he had hoped to get under Sun's skin through such comments. While the defending champion Sun swam fast, Horton swam faster. The extent to which Sun Yang's transition from Olympic champion to the Herschel Gibbs of the natatorium was due to mind games is debatable; regardless, the Aussie battler myth also has no place for such considerations.
For most Australians, winners are grinners. Even if some