The Mack Attack at the Rio Olympics has become the Attack On Mack.

Australian swimmer Mack Horton, 20, may have emerged onto the world stage by winning gold in the 400m freestyle, but it was his baiting of Chinese rival Sun Yang in the lead-up to the race – when he accused Sun of being a "drug cheat" – that captured the world's attention and dominated the headlines after day one of the Olympics.

After his win on the opening night, Horton revealed his aggressive appraisal of Sun was a deliberate ploy to get into the head of his main rival, while at the same time defending clean athletes.

DOMINIC EBENBICHLER / REUTERS The men's 400m freestyle podium at the Rio Olympics: Gabriele Detti of Italy with bronze, Mack Horton of Australia with gold and Sun Yang of China with silver.

Earlier, Horton and Sun had an altercation at the training pool. When asked about it, the Australian was unabashed in claiming Sun had tried to splash and taunt him, but that he had "no time or respect for drug cheats".

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MARCOS BRINDICCI/REUTERS Sun Yang and Mack Horton shake hands after being presented with their medals for the 400m freestyle.

Sun served a three-month ban in 2014 in secret after a positive test and many swimmers feel he shouldn't be competing at all, let along defending his gold medals in the 400m and 1500m from the London Olympics.

Footage of a devastated Sun bursting into tears while attempting to give an interview in the media mixed zone immediately after the race went viral on Chinese social media.

The top-trending hashtag "Sun Yang Don't Cry" amassed more than 47 million views on China's Weibo within hours.

The inappropriately edited Mack Horton Wikipedia page.

Sports fans haven't been shy in coming after the Australian for his aggressive tactics, the Chinese in particular bombarding Horton's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, demanding he apologise to Sun.

The Wikipedia entry for the Australian swimmer was also modified to say that Australian media coverage of his race win "significantly advanced Australian 'fair' – the fair skin of Caucasian Australian [sic]".

"His remarks of Sun is widely believed to be a part of his cultural heritage in that he was practically nursed race prejudice at his mother's breasts [sic]," the page read before it was re-edited.

"I come from a land down under" 🎧🇦🇺💃🏼 📸@dellyphotoninja Thanks for all of the love ❤️ A photo posted by uoʇɹoɥ ʞɔɐɯ (@mackhorton) on Aug 6, 2016 at 11:09pm PDT

Horton's post-race celebratory Instagram photo was also flooded with comments from Chinese fans, with 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 apologise 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.

Sun served a three-month ban for testing positive to trimetazidine, a substance normally used to treat angina.

Sun claimed the medication was prescribed for heart palpitations, saying he was unaware it had been placed on the banned list.