HORTON Mack

General
EVENT FOCUS
He began to shift his focus away from the 1500m freestyle after the 800m freestyle was added to the Olympic programme for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. In 2018 he said the inclusion of the 800m freestyle led to him reconsidering which events to aim for in Tokyo. "I think you know what's happening to the 1500m. It's on its way out. With the 800m being added into the Olympic programme I was either going to have to go 200m, 400m and 800m or 400m, 800m and 1500m. It's looking like 200m, 400m and 800m. I did a personal best in the 200m without actually training for it. I think we're heading that direction. I don't think many people know how to swim an 800m. It's not quite the 1500m settled rhythm, I think it's probably closer to a 400m sprint where you just have to hold on." (smh.com.au, 24 Oct 2018, 11 Apr 2018)

LIFE AFTER SPORT
In 2021 he said it is unlikely that he will stay in the sports industry once he retires as an athlete, except as a mentor to younger swimmers. "Once I'm done with sport, I'm done with sport. Of course, I'd like to be there to mentor younger athletes and help them through, but I think, probably, because I've just spent so much time and so much energy in this world, once I'm done with that world, I want to be done. But it could change when you actually step away from that." (abc.net.au, 13 May 2021)

PODIUM PROTEST
After winning silver in the 400m freestyle at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, Republic of Korea, he refused to stand on the podium alongside the event's winner, Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. At the time of the event Sun was awaiting a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] over a possible anti-doping violation. Horton was sent a warning letter by the International Swimming Federation [FINA] after the incident. (apnews.com, 13 May 2021)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He has done public speaking roles for sports promotion projects such as 'Olympics Unleashed', which is managed by the Australian Olympic Committee, and also supports water safety campaigns in Australia such as the Keep Watch pool safety campaign. He has also worked as an analyst at Commonwealth Bank in Australia. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Apr 2021; Twitter profile, 25 Nov 2020; optus.com.au, 25 Nov 2020; racv.com.au, 09 Dec 2020)