Chinese swimmer Sun Yang avoids punishment for destroying doping sample with a hammer
Chinese swimmer Sun Yang’s relationship with FINA is under the microscope after a report he was cleared of wrongdoing despite using a hammer to destroy a sealed doping sample.
SUN Yang’s relationship with the powerful bureaucrats who control world swimming is back under the microscope after a shocking report that the controversial Chinese freestyler was cleared of wrongdoing despite using a hammer to destroy a sealed doping sample.
The incident, which would typically result in an automatic suspension or possible life ban, happened almost five months ago but was kept secret until details of the case were published by the Sunday Times in London.
Tampering with doping samples is an absolute no-no so if the case goes to appeal and is proven true, Sun’s swimming career may soon be over, leaving swimmers scratching their heads as to why the sport’s governing body would let him off the hook with nothing more than a caution.
This is the same Sun that Mack Horton called out as a cheat after he secretly served a three month ban for doping in 2014 and the latest development comes at the same time that high-performance swimmers all over the world are openly criticising the way FINA runs the sport.
The case has already attracted the attention of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which is considering lodging an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over FINA’s decision not to punish Sun.
There’s always been some element of confusion about the protocols surrounding unannounced doping tests, which explains why so many innocent athletes have been suspended without testing positive, mainly for not being at home when the testers came knocking.
But when the testers do show up, what happens next is as straightforward as being pulled over for a random breath test. Athletes simply just do exactly what they’re told.
Any tampering with the sample is regarded as a punishable offence, as the Irish Olympic champion Michelle Smith discovered when she was banned for allegedly adding whisky to a urine sample she gave in 1998.
In Sun’s case, what he did beggars disbelief because he broke almost all of the protocols when the independent testers showed up at his home in Zhejiang province on September 4 last year.
According to the report in the Sunday Times, Sun left the control room to provide a urine sample, which is against the rules. He later smashed one of the vials containing his blood sample then snatched the report from the testing officer and ripped it up.
When the incident was reported to FINA, instead of exercising its right to impose a ban, FINA referred the matter to its Doping Panel, which made its ruling on January 3.
The Doping Panel was highly critical of the actions taken by Sun and his entourage, describing his behaviour as “foolish in the extreme” but still let him off with a warning although the verdict was “a close-run thing”.
WADA is now aware of the case and already following up on it, and could lodge an appeal with CAS, given the precedent that would be set if other athletes decided to destroy samples.
While the events seem extraordinary, few people in the swimming world will be surprised that FINA slapped Sun with a feather duster but the timing could not be worse for FINA as swimmers queue up to join a breakaway professional league — which has already stated Sun is not invited to.
Unrivalled as China’s greatest swimmer after winning Olympic gold medals in 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle, the 27-year-old has long been regarded as hot-tempered troublemaker who acts like he’s a law unto himself because he has friends in high places.
At the 2012 London Olympics, he won gold in the 1500m after he was given permission to continue after false starting in the heats.
A year later he was jailed for a week for crashing a car he was driving without a licence and in 2014 he was busted for doping, but escaped with a three-month ban when he said he had a heart condition.
When he bounced back from his loss to Horton in the 400m by winning the 200m gold in Rio, FINA’s Executive Director Cornel Marculescu personally walked on the pool deck to cuddle him, but now his fate could be in someone’s hands.
Every Test, ODI, T20I, and BBL match live. SIGN UP NOW!
Big name first retiree of Sydney to Hobart yacht race
The first big name is out of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race but it’s not one of the line honours contenders. Latest news
Wild times for Sydney to Hobart fleet in hectic first night
Friday night dinner in Hobart is on the cards for the fleet frontrunners if they can keep their yacht in one piece during a hectic first night of racing.