Sun Yang’s Eight-Year Doping Ban Is Overturned

The decision is likely to lead to yet more frustration inside the global antidoping movement, which last week saw a different CAS panel significantly reduce the penalties issued against Russia for running a yearslong, state-backed doping scheme. Wednesday’s ruling will also raise new questions about the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s competence in handling high-profile cases.

Sun’s 2019 hearing at the sports court, the first in more than a decade to be held in public, descended into confusion and acrimony amid major translation difficulties among Sun, his witnesses and the three member-panel, all Europeans without Chinese language skills. It is unclear whether the new hearing will take place in public, but WADA said Wednesday night that it would retry the case.

“WADA will take steps to present its case robustly again when the matter returns to the CAS panel, which will be chaired by a different president,” the agency said.

The eight-year doping ban imposed in February was the first against a Chinese sports figure as influential as Sun, who is a national hero on a par with the country’s former basketball star Yao Ming.

The case is the biggest doping scandal involving China since more than 30 swimmers from the country were caught using banned substances in the 1990s, and 40 of its 300 athletes were withdrawn from the 2000 Sydney Olympics by the Chinese authorities. At the time, news reports suggested the athletes had returned suspicious blood-test results.

In 2014, Sun was suspended for three months by the Chinese authorities after he tested positive for a recently banned prescription drug, and he has long drawn suspicion from fellow swimmers. Several rivals verbally sparred with him at the world championships in July 2019 or refused to stand on the medals podium with him after races.

Sun’s fans reacted with fury at the news of his eight-year suspension. Social media platforms were flooded with messages of support for the swimmer and anger at the decision, which many described as anti-Chinese and designed to harm the country.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/sports/olympics/sun-yang-china-doping.html