Mack Horton has backed up the talk to walk the walk, winning Australia's first gold medal of the Rio Olympic Games with a stirring victory in the 400m freestyle final over arch-rival Sun Yang.
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Horton swam a tactically perfect race before holding off Yang in a ding-dong battle over the final lap, just hours after declaring the former Chinese doper a cheat for whom he had neither time nor respect.
It was a massive call to go on the offensive before a big final but the 20-year-old never looked nervous, holding his form to touch the wall in 3:41.55 and earn the first of what should be a golden night for Australia in the pool.
The 20-year-old Victorian had set himself to be a 1500m swimmer but the 400m has delivered in spades. On night one in Rio, there would be no underperforming like London four years ago as Horton clinically executed on the biggest stage of all.
