Chinese web-users unleashed their fury on the social media accounts of Australian Olympic gold medallist Mack Horton, demanding he apologise for calling swimming rival Sun Yang a "drug cheat".
'I don't think anyone at FINA is going to stand up for the athletes so the athletes have to stand up for themselves'
'Athletes are always entitled to freedom of speech and when we detect that something is wrong and there's cheating, then why shouldn't we have a voice?'
The Chinese swimmer is competing at the world championships under the shadow of a WADA appeal against governing body FINA's decision to clear the 27-year-old of wrongdoing during the random drug test last September.
Day 1 witnessed a lot of action across events at Gold Coast. Here are some highlights -- in pictures -- from the opening day's events...
Two swimmers made the biggest waves in Rio, Michael Phelps racing to retirement as the greatest of all time and US team mate Ryan Lochte slipping out of the country before police could stop him.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday.
The 21-year-old had to chase down James Guy and Jack McLoughlin to win the title, pulling ahead in the final 100 metres to edge out compatriot McLoughlin and the Englishman to touch in three minutes, 43.76.
Kyle Chalmers capped a remarkable return from heart surgery to lead home an Australian one-two finish in the men's 200m freestyle final
Australia's women, powered by sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell, beat the United States and Canada to win the Olympic 4x100 metres freestyle relay in world record time on Saturday, retaining the title they won in London four years ago.
Australia will not apologise to China after Mack Horton called his rival and fellow Olympic swimming gold medallist Sun Yang a ''drug cheat'', delegation head Kitty Chiller said on Tuesday.
"I have been on teams where people have failed a drug test, accidentally and through no fault of their own. I would never call them cheats. It seems to be very hypocritical."
Le Clos, however, was only able to clinch gold in the 50m butterfly in the first final of second day's programme and faded over the last leg to finish seventh in the 200m freestyle. South Africa finished sixth in the 4x100m relay.
A night after becoming the first swimmer to go under the 'Magic 57' mark in the men's 100 metres breaststroke, Peaty cruised to his third straight gold in the event, though his time -- 57.14 -- was off his world record of 56.88 set in Sunday's semis.
Chinese Olympic women's swimmer Chen Xinyi tested positive for a banned substance at the Rio Olympics on August 7, state media said on Friday citing the country's swimming association, the latest doping scandal to mar competition at the Games.
South Korean police have arrested a foreign athlete competing at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju for suspected sexual harassment at a nightclub, a South Korean police official said on Sunday.
Caeleb Dressel lit up the pool by winning his fourth, fifth and sixth gold medals on Saturday but even his electric performance failed to brighten the mood on a dark day at the world swimming championships in Gwangju.
At 19, Milak is the youngest winner of the 200 butterfly since Phelps triumphed as an 18-year-old in 2003, the second of the American great's five world titles in the event.
Champions were dethroned, new national heroes born and world records smashed
Touching home in a time of 3:42.44, Sun held off a storming swim from Olympic champion Horton, who had failed to even qualify for the event at the Australian trials but was added to the squad as a discretionary pick.
The United States set a world record of three minutes and 50.40 seconds in the women's 4x100m medley relay final at the world championships on Sunday.
At the medal ceremony, Scott shook hands with fellow bronze medallist Martin Malyutin of Russia, who finished with the same time as the Briton, but then completely cold shouldered Sun, refusing to make eye contact and not offering a handshake.
Russian swimming chief Vladimir Salnikov said on Tuesday the atmosphere surrounding his team at the Olympics reminded him of the Cold War, and criticised American breaststroke champion Lilly King for attacking the integrity of her Russian rival.
Australia set a world record of 7:41.50 en route to winning the gold medal in the women's 4x200 freestyle relay at the world championships on Thursday.
Sun Yang became the first Chinese swimmer to win the Olympic men's 200 metres freestyle gold medal on Monday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
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