{"id":576327,"date":"2024-01-20T16:12:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T23:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=576327"},"modified":"2024-01-21T06:55:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T13:55:05","slug":"australias-rio-olympic-gold-medallist-mack-horton-calls-time-on-a-golden-career-with-one-regret-only-that-the-years-went-so-quickly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/australias-rio-olympic-gold-medallist-mack-horton-calls-time-on-a-golden-career-with-one-regret-only-that-the-years-went-so-quickly\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s Rio Olympic Gold Medallist Mack Horton Calls Time on a Golden Career with One Regret… ‘Only that the Years Went So Quickly’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia’s Rio Olympic Gold Medallist Mack Horton Calls Time On a Golden Career With One Regret … ‘Only that the Years Went So Quickly’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist Mack Horton<\/strong> has today retired from swimming, in the same graceful, humble manner in which he swam, with the aplomb that goes hand in hand with the great Olympic champions.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old posting \u201c(I\u2019m) grateful for all I\u2019ve experienced, and even more so for those who\u2019ve stood alongside me and made it possible. I wouldn\u2019t change a moment. Thank you, swimming. Thank you, Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saying there are no regrets\u2026\u201dOnly that the years went so quickly \u2026. Swimming has been my life \u2026 and it\u2019s the friends and relationships I\u2019ve made that trump any gold medal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many people to thank \u2026 my parents firstly, 5 a.m. training sessions are brutal for the whole family, my coaches Craig Jackson<\/strong> and Michael Bohl,<\/strong> (my wife) Ella, my friends who have supported me along the way and my Dolphins\u2019 teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dearly wanted to swim in Paris, but the hunger wasn\u2019t there. I always want to give my all and I am not someone who just wants to make up the numbers, so this is the right time to step away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have felt so privileged to represent Australia and wear the green and gold \u2026 I just hope Australia thinks I did them proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful for my time in swimming and in regard to legacy, I hope my teammates and the sport think that I was able to help them and the sport in some way.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I hope they just remember me as Mack.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as the man who stood up for his beliefs, which began in the lead in to his Rio gold, a victory that came just hours after Horton had slammed reigning Olympic champ<\/a>, China’s Sun Yang<\/strong> as a \u201cdrug cheat\u201d who he does not respect after Sun had served a three-month doping ban in 2014.<\/p>\n

As Fox Sports<\/em> reported: “Horton sensationally claimed after the race the sledge was an intentional tactic inspired by Australia\u2019s Americas Cup-winning skipper John Bertrand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something I thought of before hand and it was taking a leaf of John Bertrand\u2019s book,\u201d Horton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just referred to racing the American boat as \u2018The Red Boat\u2019, so he desensitized<\/strong> from it. Sun is just \u2018the drug cheat\u2019 that\u2019s how I went about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horton said he wouldn\u2019t have outlasted the defending champion ]in a thrilling last-lap duel without the tactic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat that last 25, 15m, it felt like I had rocks in my arms basically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then I kind of flashed back to my statement this morning and thought, \u2018I don\u2019t have a choice, I can\u2019t let him beat me now\u2019, so that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then came the brave decision to stand down from the 2019 World Championship awards podium in the 400m freestyle after winning silver behind Sun, refusing to shake Sun’s hand.<\/p>\n

In February 2020, Sun Yang was issued an eight-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for tampering with the doping control process.<\/p>\n

At 27 Horton has much to celebrate and much to be proud of \u2013 the man who held his nerve and self-belief to snatch that Rio gold by 0.13 and to join Murray Rose<\/strong> (1956, 1960), Brad Cooper<\/strong> (1972) and Ian Thorpe <\/strong>(2000, 2004) as the fourth Australian to win the 400m freestyle.<\/p>\n

Horton will continue to have major inout into swimming in Australia as the President of the Australian Swimmers Association while<\/p>\n

Remembering Mack\u2026<\/p>\n

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A post shared by uo\u0287\u0279o\u0265 walter \u029e\u0254\u0250\u026f (@mackhorton)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n