World swimming boss Cornel Marculescu has stirred controversy after sharing a long embrace with controversial Chinese swimming champ Sun Yang poolside following his 200m freestyle medal ceremony.
FINA executive chairman Cornel Marculescu has previously attracted criticism for taking a soft stance on convicted drug cheats including Yang and Russian Yulia Efimova was on hand to greet Yang following the 24-year-old's lap of honour following his impressive win today.
After getting out of the pool, Yang ran towards the head of world swimming and the pair hugged for several seconds.
Marculescu has been slammed for the show of affection in the wake of the huge amount of negative attention around the issue of doping at the Rio Olympics, that has seen both Yang and Efimova roundly booed by crowds.
Fox Sports report former Australian world swimming champion Geoff Huegill was among those who found the moment distasteful, tweeting: "It is those actions that make people wonder why we've lost faith in the system."
