Sally Pearson hopes Mack Horton's silent protest against Sun Yang will be a beacon for future generations as another of Australia's greatest Olympians, Dawn Fraser, said the Chinese swimmer should not even be competing at the world championships.
Pearson and Fraser threw their support behind Horton after he refused to share the medal dais with Sun after claiming silver in the men's 400m freestyle behind his longtime adversary, who is facing fresh accusations he used a hammer to smash a vial of blood from a recent sample.
Horton has been reprimanded by world swimming's governing body FINA.
Great Britain swimmer Duncan Scott waged a similar objection after the 200m freestyle in which Sun claimed gold as the Gwangju meet in South Korea reached boiling point.
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But Horton's controversial act has been endorsed by some of the country's highest profile athletes, from both the past and present.
"I stand behind him," said London gold medallist Pearson, who fronted an Australian Olympic Committee launch on Wednesday one year out from the Tokyo Games.
Not many people would have the courage to do what he did. I hope that is doesn't penalise him for any future competitons
Sally Pearson
"I salute him for having the courage and bravery to get up there and take a stand for clean sport. Major competitions, Olympics, world championships or Commonwealth Games, [it's] a huge platform for us athletes to be able to communicate our beliefs and he did just that.
"Not many people would have the courage to do what he did. I hope that is doesn't penalise him for any future competitions.
"What he has done for the future of sport, for future generations is really quite incredible. I don't even know whether I could do that. We want to be on that podium, whether it's gold silver or bronze and for someone to not stand up on the podium takes guts."
Fraser, one of only three swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times, went a step further and claimed Sun shouldn't even be competing at the world championships.
Support Sally Pearson with Dawn Fraser and Chloe Esposito were in Sydney to mark one year to the Tpkyo Olympics.Credit:AAP
The 27-year-old will front the Court of Arbitration for Sport in September to defend himself against the doping rule violations which threaten to rob him of a spot in Tokyo.
"I've got to stand behind Mack because he's made his protest," Fraser said. "We all know that Sun Yang has a court case to go through in September and if it were me I wouldn't have been allowed to swim at these championships and that's what should have happened with Sun Yang.
"A lot of the swimmers in the last 15 years have said, 'we want a clean sport'. We had a lot of trouble with the East Germans. We're all fighting for that and I've got to stand behind Mack for what he's done. He didn't want to stand on the podium with a drug cheat.
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