Olympic champion Mack Horton and his wife Ella Walter Horton have announced that they are expecting their first child together.
The announcement was made via an Instagram post, where the couple shared photos of their maternity photoshoot.
Horton, and Walter Horton were high school sweethearts as they began dating back in 2015. The couple announced their engagement in 2022 and tied the knot in a ceremony in mid-2023. Walter Horton currently works as a neonatal intensive care nurse.
During his time in the pool, Horton was one of Australia’s distance swimming stars, winning Olympic gold in the 400 freestyle back in 2016. He was also the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion in the same event. In addition to that, he also won several other medals at the World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Olympics as a member of the Aussie relay squads, primarily contributing in the 4×200 freestyle relay. After missing the roster for the 2023 World Championships, Horton announced his retirement in early 2024, just prior to turning 28, taking up a job at an advertising firm in Sydney.
Aside from his medals, Horton has gone down in swimming history for his vocal protests about anti-doping policies. Back in 2019, he made headlines by refusing to stand on the World Championships podium alongside four-time defending champion Sun Yang, who Horton had called a “drug cheat”. Yang, who at the time was awaiting a CAS decision regarding his doping case, was eventually handed a four-year ban for allegedly interfering with an attempted drug test. Horton’s action sparked harsh criticism from Chinese media and sparked debate across the swimming community.
Congrats! What is Mack doing these days?
Got cheated out of a couple more gold medals by a Chinese drug cheat.
At least he snatched that Gold medal in Rio…. but it was close!
And his whole family was hounded for years on social media etc. Terrible
Given some of the comments he made about shayna when asked it’s hard to feel bad for him.
I never like how hesitant some of the most vocal pro anti doping voices are to comment when it’s their countrymen.