A swimmer's mole was removed after being spotted by a fan who then emailed the swim team's doctor about it.
Australian Olympic swimmer Mack Horton had won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in August. On Thursday, he had a mole removed from his chest in Melbourne after a fan pointed it out to Australian swim officials, the Australian Associated Press reported per The Syndey Morning Herald.
Horton posted a message on social media to the anonymous fans with a picture on Instagram with a bandage on his chest.
"Shout out to the person that emailed the swim team doctor and told me to get my mole checked out. Good call. Very good call," Horton wrote on Instagram, who did not disclose any details about the mole or its removal. Media reports did not comment on when the fan spotted the mole.
It was a good news message for Horton on social media this time, after the gold medalist was swamped with negative Twitter comments during the Olympics after calling his Chinese swimming rival Sun Yang a "drug cheat" after his 400-meter freestyle win, The Guardian reported.
Horton called Sun a "drug cheat" before and after the race, pointing to the swimmer's three-month ban in 2014, wrote The Guardian. Sun had argued, per the newspaper, that he was banned for a medication he used to treat heart palpitations and that he did not know it had been placed on the banned list.
Australian journalist Andrew Brown pointed out on Twitter about the angry response from Chinese fans about Horton's comments.
The Australian Associated Press wrote that Horton is expected to swim in the Australian short-course championships in Brisbane in November.
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