Horton has no regrets over doping furore

Mack Horton has no regrets at sparking a global doping debate.

The Australian swimmer won gold in the 400m freestyle at the Rio Olympics.

Then he won admiration from others for saying he had scant respect for his Chinese rival Sun Yang, who served a doping ban in 2014.

Swimmers including the legendary Michael Phelps then followed Horton's lead and criticised the presence of past drug cheats at the Rio pool.

And Horton would do it all again.

"It's good to have kicked it off," he said on Saturday night.

"I kind of followed it throughout the week but I didn't let myself get caught up with it because it would become a distraction."

Asked if he had anything else to say to Sun, Horton replied: "Not really."

But he did say he was still coming to terms with being an Olympic champion.

"The thing that made it, not easier, but possible for me to win the 400 was not realising what I had done," he said.

"Once you start realising how big things are it puts a barrier on it.

"I still don't know what I have done, to be honest."