Chinese swim fans respond to Mack Horton family’s claims of abuse
- Chinese social media users offer mixed response to explosive interview claiming Aussie swimmer’s family lived in ‘state of siege’
- Sun Yang fans had apologised to Horton on social media but some are still happy at his treatment from fellow countrymen
In an extensive interview with The Australian, headlined “Horton torment after poking the dragon”, Horton’s parents Andrew and Cheryl revealed that the family home was broken into, broken glass was placed on the bottom of their pool and dog excrement was hurled over the garden fence.
Other low points included online death threats, nuisance phone calls and pans being banged outside the home late into the night, as well as “suspicious vans” parked outside the home.
“For nearly four years the family has lived in a virtual state of siege. Supporters of Sun, most believed to be on student visas, regularly bang pots and pans late at night in the alley behind the back fence and abused the family from the driveway,” The Australian reported.
“Plants have been poisoned, dog s*** hurled over the fence, and a man speaking broken English calls Andrew Horton regularly to threaten his daughter (he has no daughter). Last year, after South Korea, Cheryl was cleaning the family pool when she discovered “a bucket load of broken glass at the bottom.”
“The biggest change was the intensity,” says Andrew. “It was unrelenting. Every day and night in the second half of 2019, peaking in September, easing off in February this year.”
China swim chiefs says Sun ‘suspended’ amid Tokyo 2020 training reports
It relented in the same month that Sun received an eight-year suspension for destroying a blood sample in an out-of-competition doping test.
The Australian swimmer’s father also spoke of how his business was damaged, with an unnamed security analyst quoted as saying it looked “state-orchestrated”.
“The family’s ordeal is believed to be well-organised and part of a systematic pattern of harassment and intimidation directed at perceived critics of China. This is not an amateur operation. The Hortons’ story is very disturbing … It says something about the reach of foreign powers within Australia.”
Both the interview and another opinion piece in The Australian, written by Luke Slattery and headlines “Dirty pool: Mack Horton’s fear as family target of hate campaign”, were translated into Chinese and posted online.
Chinese social media users, many of whom had apologised to Horton on his Instagram account after Sun’s eight-year ban, offered mixed responses.
One calling themselves “Always grasp the truth”, wrote on online portal Sina Sports that they were “villains” and urged Horton on to continued success: “Feel at ease to create achievements and win more gold medals!”
‘I can’t go lower than zero’ – CAS lawyer ranks Sun Yang’s performance
Another user in Nanjing agreed with the security analyst. “The torture of this family is part of an organised and systematic pattern of harassment and intimidation by Chinese critics. This is not amateur action,” they wrote.
However, some argued that Sun cannot control the fans while others were proud of their countrymen.
‘What a baby’: tide turns on Sun Yang after Chinese fans see CAS report
“I am very happy that overseas Chinese still have so many men who defend their families!! Good kind!,” wrote a user named Henry-Lai in Shenzhen.
Another, calling themselves “Panda” and writing from Tianjin, wrote “This idiot should be treated like this,” while another in Beijing questioned how China could launch cyberattacks when the internet was restricted in the country.
