You may have noticed on our latest high-level international meets for May post that Chinese Nationals are set to begin next Friday, April 30th.
The meet is one of the Olympic-qualifying opportunities for the nation’s swimmers, with China ultimately aiming to improve upon its 7th place finish in the medal table from the last Games in Rio.
With Olympic champion Sun Yang‘s 8-year ban having been overturned, the man is indeed able to race next week and Asian media is reporting as such on Weibo, which is essentially the Chinese version of Twitter. Although start lists are not yet out, Sun is eligible to compete, with his second hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) set for May 24th-28th via virtual conference.
As we previously reported, an entirely new panel of three will hear the re-trying of the case. Hans Nater of Switzerland is the panel’s president and Jan Paulsson of France and Bernard Hanotiau of Belgium will also serve on the panel.
The president of the previous panel was removed after making racist remarks against China on social media. The other two members of the panel stepped down.
The hearing is the next step in a complex and winding legal process stemming from a September 2018 out-of-competition anti-doping test in which Chinese distance swimming star Sun challenged the credentials and authorization of doping control workers.
Sun was first cleared by an independent anti-doping panel within FINA. He was then banned for 8 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A Swiss Federal Tribunal accepted one of Sun’s appeals, overturning the CAS ban and sending the case back for a new hearing in front of a new CAS panel.
In Rio, Sun took 200m free gold as well as 400m free silver. We will report on his individual entries for these Chinese Nationals as soon as they are published.
This whole saga is a complete disgrace. Should he compete in Tokyo, I’d love to see Duncan Scott destroying him in the 200 free.
Sun is the GOAT
I’m just here to read the racist and chauvinist microaggressions.
You must be disappointed then.
I just realized that this news came out only AFTER the IOC said they wouldn’t allow protests at the Olympic Games… chicken didn’t want to be subjected to someone showing the entire world – again ! – what a giant cheat he is.
The overturning of his ban is a disgrace.
I think it is difficult for him to get medals even if he could go to the Olympics.
Who is liking these Pro-Sun comment’s. Even if he didnt cheat he is rude, arrogant, aggressive, confrontational and a bad picture for swimming. Im baffled by the delusion in these comments. Can’t think of a single positive about him.
All the bullsh*t aside, he is actually a very good swimmer. Lovely technique. That’s a positive I guess…
His turns are super bad though.
He has an amazing freestyle, was doped up and still couldn’t beat Thorpe in a speedo.
I haven’t really seen many strictly Pro-Sun comments. There are some discussing the actual severity of his transgressions, sure, and plenty acknowledging the way his drama makes for good storylines, etc., but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with upvoting thoughtful, nuanced comments.
There are way more that are on the other extreme (joke about him drowning, blanket political statement about China, etc.). Personally, I think the whole vial-smashing event was mismanaged on both sides from the beginning and some penalty is warranted for Sun Yang, but to say that the testing situation and translations at the hearing weren’t absolute clown shows is disingenuous IMO.
I don’t think he should swim at the Olympics this year and I… Read more »
100% Agree @Sven. Couldn’t have said better myself.
What a joke, again China 🇨🇳 flexing its political muscle for a dirty swimmer….what a disgrace for the sport.