Swimming: The other swimmers greet Horton for their event on the podium

GWANGJU, South Korea: Mack Horton was applauded by swimmers at the world championships after refusing to share the podium with Chinese Sun Yang, said Monday the American badstroke Lily King.

Sun, who had already served a doping sentence in 2014 and had been labeled a "drug cheater" by Horton before the Rio Olympics final, was given the go-ahead to participate in Gwangju after being cleared by a panel of the FINA to break the rules of the board of directors year.

However, the World Anti-Doping Agency is seeking to overturn the court's decision to arbitrate the sport, leaving Sun's career hanging in the balance one year after the Tokyo Olympics.

After finishing Sunday in Sun 's free 400, Olympic champion Horton won his silver medal and then placed behind the podium while his Chinese rival and bronze medalist Gabriele Detti shared the spotlight.

Although this decision drew criticism from some media and indignation of Chinese swimming fans, King said that the Australian enjoyed the full support of his peers.

"We were waiting for the awards ceremony just to see what was going to happen," said King.

"It was awesome." When we entered the dining room, he came in after us and the whole room burst into applause.

"It was really good to see the athletes joining their positions and supporting him as well."

King said the swimmers were annoyed by the fact that doping continued to darken their sport and that if they did not receive adequate protection from the governing bodies, they should monitor each other.

"I do not think anyone at FINA will defend athletes, so athletes have to defend themselves," she said. "I think it's definitely a start."

Australian Mitch Larkin was "very proud" of his teammate and said the whole team was supporting him.

"I think 99% of the (other) athletes around the pool support him, so he's not really alone," he added.

"What he did was certainly brave and brave and I have a lot of respect for him for that."

Larkin said that it was difficult to be totally sure that the swimming was clean.

"You have to trust the authorities, but with what's happening in sports these days, it's hard to be 100% sure," he said.

American Matt Grevers said that while Horton could be punished by FINA, the Australian was perfectly aware of the potential consequences. He also said the event was more aimed at sending a message to Sun than to hurt him.

"In this case, I do not have the impression that Sun Yang really suffered.This simply allowed him to know that it was a strange incident and up to That everything is discovered, we do not really trust you, "he added.

(Additional report by Joori Roh, edited by Sudipto Ganguly)