China’s Sun Yang only escaped a second doping ban through paperwork technicality

Controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang only escaped a second doping ban because of some bureaucratic red tape regarding paperwork.

Sun’s career is in the balance.

Controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang only escaped a second doping ban that would have effectively ended his career because of a minor technicality over paperwork, even after admitting that one of his personal guards destroyed his blood samples with a hammer, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Swimming’s world governing body FINA found Sun had committed a serious doping violation “beyond any doubt” when he ordered the bottles containing his own blood samples to be smashed after a random out-of-competition test at his home in Zhejiang province on September 4.

But the Doping Panel that FINA appointed to adjudicate on the case ruled otherwise, letting the multi-Olympic champion off the hook with nothing more than a slap on the wrist because of their interpretation of what “official documentation” meant.

Sun’s career is in the balance.

While neither side disputes the shocking claim the samples were destroyed after Sun refused to co-operate, the case hinged on a letter FINA provided to authorise the independent testers to carry out the procedure.

FINA said the letter it gave to the International Doping Tests and Management (IDTM) covered the group of testers, but Sun’s lawyer’s argued each individual tester should have had separate letters.

And the Doping Panel agreed, so found him not guilty, even though they told him he should have complied with the testers, then registered any complaints he had later.

The Daily Telegraph understands the Panel handed down a series of cautions to Sun in its judgment, including his refusal to deliver urine in front of an official observer that he wrongly insisted was unauthorised.

FINA has not publicly released its report on the case, which was heard in Switzerland on November 19, but the findings, from January 3, have been sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has 21 days to decide whether to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Yang is a multiple-time Olympic gold medallist. Picture by Alex Coppel.

A spokesman for WADA told The Daily Telegraph: “I can confirm that WADA is aware of this case and that we are following up accordingly.”

Although Sun was cleared of any wrongdoing, his lawyers have threatened to take legal action against The Sunday Times newspaper, which published the first details of the case.

However, former Australian anti-doping boss Richard Ings said Sun should allow FINA to publicly release the findings from the Doping Panel to explain exactly why he was cleared.

“Given that this matter is receiving wall to wall coverage in global sports media and given the high profile nature of the athlete involved, I think it’s prudent for the recent decision of the final panel to be made public,” Ings said.

“This will require the approval of Sun Yang for the release of the recent decision which will go far to settling all the conjecture of the facts of this case .”

The Daily Telegraph understands the report raises as many questions as answers about how the final verdict was reached given the number of protocols he breached during an extraordinary night that began when the testers arrived at his residence at 10pm, which was the start of the one-hour window Sun had indicated he would be home.

He arrived almost an hour late, which almost constituted a “missed” test, but what transpired over the next four hours was anything but normal.

The report raises many questions around Sun. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.

It was not until 3:15am that the testers finally left empty-handed after arguments involving phone calls to doctors and doping authorities offering conflicting advice, and ultimately led to Sun destroying the samples, “horrifying” the testers, who explained to him several times that such action would land him in hot water.

Sun’s mother was also present, as was his doctor Ba Zhen, who has twice been banned, and both presented evidence to the Doping Panel, saying they became concerned about the qualifications of the testers when one of the assistants began taking photographs of Sun, which were later deleted.

It was Sun’s mother who asked the guard to bring a hammer into the doping control station after the vials containing her son’s blood samples had already been placed in a secure container.

When the guard initially failed to break open the container, Sun’s mother instructed him to take the container outside where he and Sun then removed the vials and destroyed them.

Sun later returned inside and ripped up the doping control forms, which the testers had partially completed.

Sources have told The Daily Telegraph that while the Doping Panel found Sun not guilty on the technicality over documentation, the decision to let him off was “close-run” and that his entire athletic career had hung in the balance over what amounted to a “foolish” gamble.

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Originally published as China’s Sun Yang only escaped a second doping ban through paperwork technicality