Australia's 400m freestyle gold medallist Mack Horton has copped a barrage of abuse from Chinese swimming fans on social media in the wake of his sledge on rival Sun Yang.
The 20-year-old pipped defending champion Yang for gold in the final on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEST) in Rio.
Prior to the race, Horton had labelled Yang a 'drug cheat' for testing positive to a banned stimulant two years ago.
He stood by his comments following the gold medal swim, saying the result a was "win for the good guys".
@_mackhorton Every participating athletes to get respect, you are so arrogant, world swimming fans don't like you, please apologize to Yang.
— try_eternal (@mlgzlm) August 7, 2016
#apologizetosunyang @_mackhorton Don't you dare to admit what you say? Apologize and stop being a coward.
— sarahaha (@sarah0707wsy) August 7, 2016
@AUSOlympicTeam @_mackhorton you won the game but lost the character！！！
— Yin (@YiannCheng) August 7, 2016
Horton's post-race celebratory Instagram photo was flooded with comments from Chinese fans and it was the same story on Twitter, some demanding an apology and calling the Aussie a "snake".
"Although you have to the gold medal, but no matter how much you get the piece because of your character you will always be a loser at least respect you should have! Please apologize to Sun Yang! [sic]," one user wrote.
"Good for you to win the game! But please figure out the truth before you speak bad things about others," another commented.
Yang served a three-month ban for testing positive to trimetazidine, a substance normally used to treat angina.
Yang claimed the medication was prescribed for heart palpitations, saying he was unaware it had been placed on the banned list.
On Monday, the Chinese Swimming Association asked Horton to apologize for his "inappropriate words."
Australia's Olympic Committee shot back in Horton's defense hours later, saying he was speaking his mind in support of clean athletes and wished him luck.
"We have no intention of making an apology,'' Kitty Chiller, Australia's chef de mission at the Olympics, said in Rio.
"We would urge athletes to respect their fellow competitors,'' International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said Monday.