Sun Yang hearing: Chinese swimmer avoids questions over smashed blood samples
Insisting he had done nothing wrong when he allowed his blood samples to be destroyed, Chinese swimmer Sun Yang told the three arbitrators that will decide his fate that he was the one fighting for clean sport.
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Sun Yang made an impassioned last-ditch plea to save his career after the World Anti-Doping Agency’s top drug catcher warned him that he should expect a ban of up to eight years.
Emotionally drained after sitting through almost 12 hours of extraordinary testimony, Mack Horton’s archrival begged the Court of Arbitration to clear him of any wrongdoing after he used a closing statement to launch a blistering attack on his critics, including News Corp Australia .
Insisting he had done nothing wrong when he allowed his blood samples to be destroyed before they could be tested for performance enhancing drugs last year, Sun told the three arbitrators that will decide his fate that he was the one fighting for clean sport.
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“Imagine if sports organisations won’t follow or respect their own rules. What’s the point of talking about fair play,” he said.
“If athletes’ basic rights and privacy cannot be respected and protected, what’s the point of talking about the dream of Olympic spirit?”
Sun’s attempted tug at the heartstrings didn’t win him any support from WADA’s lawyers, who argued that his actions were a clear breach of doping regulations.
Dismissing Sun’s argument that he was entitled to smash his blood vials after failing to submit a urine test, the same man who brought down Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones and Floyd Landis told him he was cooked because his actions amount to tampering - regarded as one of the most serious offences in sports.
“Tearing up the doping control form, smashing the bottle, I mean that’s pretty sensational,” WADA’s lead counsel Richard Young said.
“But he was nailed on a tampering violation before any of that ever happened.”
Sun’s lawyers argued that he could not be found in breach of any rules because the doping testers were not properly credentialled to carry out the tests, which was refuted by both WADA and the independent agency in charge of the collections.
Incredibly, none of the three Chinese testers appeared in person at the hearing, with Young saying that had all been subjected to intimidation.
However, they did provide written statements, and the witnesses that did take the stand, gave an insight into the pressure they were under.
Sun Yang’s own mother Ming Yang broke down while talking to Chinese journalists during a break after her testimony was cut short after she refused to elaborate on why she threatened to call the police during the out of competition test.
Dr Han Zhaoqi, the head of one of China’s provincial anti-doping centres, admitted he told the woman in charge of the tests that other testers had been fired before for not following orders while Chinese law professor Pei Yang told the hearing nurses who don’t provide their original documents could be jailed under Chinese law.
Sun even changed his own testimony under cross examination, shifting the blame to his personal doctor Ba Zhen after failing to answer a simple question about whether he realised his actions would constitute an anti-doping violation.
“It wasn’t me, it was Dr Ba. He is a professional with many years (experience),” Sun said.
“For me, I need to report it to my doctor and my leaders and follow their advice.”
Ba - who was twice suspended after giving Sun medication that caused him to fail a drug test in 2014 - in turn said that he was only following the orders given to him by Han, prompting the arbitrators to ask why no one had ever considered what the consequences would be for Sun if they got it wrong.
Sun’s lawyer Fabrice Robert-Tissot insisted the entire testing procedure was at fault because the testers were not properly credentialled even though the testing agency said they had used the same forms in over 64,000 other cases without complaint.
That prompted arbitrator Philippe Sands to ask whether that meant all of the other tests would have to be deemed unlawful if the court agreed with Sun’s argument but Robert-Tissot said that was unlikely because Sun’s was a special case.
While the role of Sun’s entourage was pivotal in his actions, Young painted a grim scenario for the Olympic champion if he hoped that might help his case.
“There is a long line of cases...where the precedent is clear that an athlete is personally responsible, they cannot delegate their responsibility,” Young said.
“In this case, Sun Yang was incredibly careless reluting on Dr Ba, who he had already relied on once and tested positive for a prohibited substance.
“The bottom line is even if he relied on Dr Ba that is not a defence.”
Originally published as Sun Yang hearing: Chinese swimmer avoids questions over smashed blood samples
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