Sun Yang guilty verdict: Court of Arbitration for Sport issues maximum ban
Controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang’s career is over after the Court of Arbitration for Sport hit the Olympic gold medallist with the maximum ban for breaking anti-doping rules.
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So the good guys do win sometimes after all.
By banning Sun Yang for a maximum eight years for a second brazen doping offence, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has delivered a rare knockout win for clean athletes with a stunning decision that could be a game changer for world sport.
The triple Olympic champion is now a disgraced drug cheat - cast alongside the likes of Ben Johnson and Lance Armstrong - and at 28, he will never be seen in the pool again.
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The three-man CAS panel that heard the case unanimously found Sun guilty of tampering when he smashed his samples with a hammer at an out-of-competition test at his home in China in September 2018.
The offence normally carries a four-year ban but because he was convinced of a previous doping offence in 2014, it was doubled to eight.
Sun’s argument was that he did not think the testers had the proper credentials, but the CAS panel rejected that out of hand.
“The Athlete failed to establish that he had a compelling justification to destroy his sample collection containers and forego the doping control when, in his opinion, the collection protocol was not in compliance,” CAS said.
“It is one thing, having provided a blood sample, to question the accreditation of the testing personnel while keeping the intact samples in the possession of the testing authorities; it is quite another thing, after lengthy exchanges.”
Sun told the Chinese state news agency Xinhua that he would appeal the decision, though under the rules of arbitration he has limited grounds to appeal on.
“This is unfair. I firmly believe in my innocence,” the 28-year-old said. “I will definitely appeal to let more people know the truth.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency, which appealed to CAS to overturn the mind-boggling decision by swimming’s world governing body FINA to clear him of wrongdoing, welcomed the verdict.
“WADA decided to appeal the original FINA ruling having carefully reviewed it and having concluded that there were a number of points that seemed to be incorrect under the Code,” WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said.
“Today’s CAS ruling confirms those concerns and is a significant result.”
Mack Horton is the main and immediate beneficiary - as he should be because the Australian was the one who put his own neck on the line and dared to protest against his short-fused Chinese rival.
TIMELINE: SUN YANG AND A HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY
Horton will now be the red hot favourite to win the 400 metres freestyle gold at the Tokyo Olympics with Sun’s career ending in disgrace.
The pair have been feuding for years but in his ultimate moment of vindication, Horton didn’t stick the knife in, instead saying his criticism was never personal.
“My stance has always been for clean sport,” Horton said.
“It is not, and never will be about individuals or nations. Today’s outcome does not change my stance.”
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But in a surprise development, CAS opted not to strip Sun of the two gold medals he won at last year’s world championships, where Horton refused to shake his hand or join him on the medal rostrum.
Normally, doping suspensions are backdated to the date when the office occurs, which is Sun’s case was September 4, 2018, but CAS decided to start his 8-year suspension from last night when the verdict was delivered.
CAS even explained the unusual decision in a statement, saying the reasons were because he had not been provisionally suspended by FINA, had passed doping tests shortly before and after he flew into a rage and there was no evidence suggesting he was using performance enhancing drugs during the world championships.
Smashing samples is a definite no-no in sport, but Sun, who was secretly banned for three months in 2014 after testing positive to a banned stimulant, thought he got away with it when a Doping Panel appointed by swimming’s world governing body FINA cleared him of any wrongdoing - again in secret.
Sun always denied any wrongdoing even after WADA lodged an appeal but when The Daily Telegraph obtained and published the full 59-page confidential report proving he smashed the samples and explaining how he got off with a warning, the swimming world erupted in protest and last night’s result was their vindication.
PROFILE: WHO IS CONTROVERSIAL SWIMMER SUN YANG
A brilliant swimmer and a national hero to a billion Chinese or one of sport’s dirtiest cheats who got what was coming to him?
Opinions will forever be divided but that’s the inescapable legacy Sun Yang has now been left with after the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed him a career-ending ban following his second doping offence.
Swimming has never really known how to deal with their most profitable problem child who has brought more eyeballs and dollars to the sport than anyone else simply because he’s the biggest sports star in the most populated country in the world.
He’s also one of the greatest swimmers of all time, with three Olympic gold medals, multiple world titles and the holder of the world record for 1,500m freestyle.
He became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic gold in swimming when he won the 400m and 1,500m freestyle events at London in 2012. Four years later in Rio, he added the 200m but that’s not why he’s split the swimming world.
He’s box office gold in his homeland but the pressure and demands on him to succeed have caused him no end of trouble and he’s courted controversy everywhere he’s gone.
Standing almost two metres tall, he has the perfect physique for a swimmer and the work ethic required to make it all the way to the top but his achievements in the pool have been overshadowed by events outside of it, leading to the accusation that officials have turned a blind eye to his boorish behaviour.
In 2010, he triggered a diplomatic row with Japan when he branded their national anthem as “ugly” and in 2012 he was jailed for crashing a sports car while driving without a licence.
In 2014, he tested positive to a banned stimulant which his coach gave him after he was pushed so hard in training he fainted.
It was only months later that news of the test result became public.
Chinese officials said he had secretly served a three-month ban though it’s one of swimming’s worst-kept secrets that he wasn’t ever punished and his doctor’s claims that he took the banned drugs for a “heart condition” have been widely greeted with derision from rivals.
At the 2015 world championships, Sun was accused by the Brazilian national team coach of kicking and elbowing a female swimmer and a year later in Rio Mack Horton accused him of splashing water in his face – setting off their long-running feud.
There will be no shortage of people delighted to see him kicked out of the sport but just as many in his homeland will cry foul and say he was a victim of western jealousy.
Sun will maintain his rage but privately, he could well be relieved because he’s long been a prisoner of his own success.
His father, Sun Quanhong, and his mother, Yang Ming, were university lecturers who had high ambitions for their only child. Both played volleyball so they gifted him their height, which caught the attention of Chinese sports officials, who are always on the lookout for tall kids.
When his limbs were X-rayed and it was calculated he would grow into a giant, his future was sealed – forced to train to the point of exhaustion and going to sleep with being read bedtime stories.
Highly intelligent (he’s almost completed a doctorate), he has diverse interests in politics, history, literature and films but has never found love and those close to him say he longs for the day when he can stop swimming and lead a normal life.
Now, at least one of those wishes has been granted.
Originally published as Sun Yang guilty verdict: Court of Arbitration for Sport issues maximum ban
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