NAMING ROW NO WORRIES FOR MAC

AFTER getting death threats from Sun Yang’s craziest fans and losing out on some lucrative sponsorship deals, Mack Horton won’t be the least bit concerned if the Melbourne school he attended chooses not to name their new aquatic centre after him.

The notoriously private Horton (pictured) has not spoken publicly about whether he’ll be disappointed if Caulfield Grammar opts not to name their new pool after the school’s only Olympic swimming champion.

The principal of the prestigious private school, which also has a campus in mainland China, has rejected reports Horton was being snubbed for protesting against Sun’s appearance at last year’s world championships in Gwangju, South Korea, before an appeal against his latest doping case had been heard.

But those closest to Horton said it would be water off a duck’s back to the champion swimmer and anti-drugs crusader.

“I haven’t actually spoken to Mack personally on it but I know Mack very well. He’s almost a best mate of mine and I roomed with him last year in Gwangju so I sort of saw it all unfolding and I know how it did affect him personally,” Australian backstroker Mitch Larkin said. “He’s a tough guy and he’s a clever man and for an Olympic preparation, he’ll let nothing distract him.”

Dolphins coach Michael Bohl helped prepare Horton for Gwangju because his regular coach Craig Jackson was not at the world championships and was blown away by his “unbelievable mindset”.

While Horton was targeted by online Chinese trolls, he was also hailed as a hero by other swimmers for standing up for clean sport and was able to ignore the distractions with an incredible display in the water, winning silver in the 400m freestyle final then unleashing an incredible anchor leg to lead the Australian men’s 4x200m freestyle relay to gold.

“I think a thing like this isn’t really isn’t going to affect someone like Mack because Mack is 100 per cent focused on getting a result,” Bohl said