Brash, belligerent and often painted as swimming's big, bad wolf, Chinese giant Sun Yang will be looking to savage his rivals at the Asian Games.
The triple Olympic champion is poised to swim the men's 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle in Jakarta -- and it would take an astonishing upset to deny him a gold medal sweep.
No shrinking violet, Sun triggered a diplomatic row at the 2014 Asian Games by slamming Japan's national anthem as "ugly" after being ambushed by Kosuke Hagino in the 200m free in Korea.
Sun was banned for three months in 2014 for taking trimetazidine, prescribed for a heart condition and which had only been included on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of illegal substances four months earlier.
Rival swimmers tore into Sun at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where Australian Mack Horton labelled him a "drug cheat" and Frenchwoman Camille Lacourt sniffed that Sun "pees purple".
Sun then escalated the war of words by accusing Horton of "dirty tactics" after losing his Olympic 400m title to the Australian.
More From This Section
Prowling the pool deck in bling gold headphones before his races, the Chinese star could face less resistance in his bid to win a fistful of gold in Jakarta with Hagino failing to qualify for Japan in the 200m free.
"I can't relax for a second," admitted the 26-year-old Sun, who completed a hat-trick of 400m world titles last year in Budapest.
"If you stop pushing, that's when the problems start," he told Chinese media.
"Rest and recuperation can wait." China's support cast is led by teenager Li Bingjie, who medalled in the women's 400m and 800m freestyle in Hungary, and charismatic backstroker Fu Yuanhui, a double Asian Games winner in 2014.
Wang Shun, bronze medallist behind Michael Phelps and Hagino in the 200m individual medley at the Rio Olympics, will have hopes of upsetting his Japanese rival.
- Japanese threat -
===================