The Chinese Swimming Association released a list of National Team members invited to an April-June training camp Wednesday that included Olympic champion Sun Yang, who was banned from the sport for eight years in February. Hours later, the association issued a statement saying the list was invalid and that Sun’s suspension prohibits him from attending under World Anti-Doping Agency code, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday.
The statement repealing the list did not indicate if including Sun was a clerical oversight, a misinterpretation of his status under the suspension, or a direct disregard for it.
The original list of invitees, which has since been deleted, was captured and published by the Beijing Youth Daily.
Beijing Youth Daily confirm that Sun Yang is still in China's Olympic swimming squad for delayed Tokyo 2020. Document shows he is in the Zhejiang swimmers called up for national team training from April to June. pic.twitter.com/LU1IZsDqPD
— Jonathan White (@jmawhite) April 23, 2020
According to WADA code 10.12.1, athletes cannot participate in activities with FINA member federations when serving a period of ineligibility.
No Athlete or other Person (including Athlete Support Personel) who has been declared Ineligible may, during the period of Ineligibility, participate in any capacity in a Competition or activity (other than authorized anti-doping education or rehabilitation programs) authorized or organized by FINA, any FINA Member Federation, or a club or other member organization of a FINA Member Federation, or in Competitions authorized or organized by any professional league or any international or national- level Competition organization or any elite or national-level sporting activity funded by a governmental agency.
An Athlete or other Person subject to a period of Ineligibility longer than four years may, after completing four years of the period of Ineligibility, participate as an Athlete in local sport Competitions not sanctioned or otherwise under the jurisdiction of a Code Signatory or member of a Code Signatory, but only so long as the local sport Competition is not at a level that could otherwise qualify such Athlete or other Person directly or indirectly to compete in (or accumulate points toward) a national championship or International Competition, and does not involve the Athlete or other Person working in any capacity with Minors.
An Athlete or other Person subject to a period of Ineligibility shall remain subject to Testing.
Sun was handed his suspension on February 28 stemming from the infamous 2018 drug-testing altercation during which a vial of his blood was smashed with a hammer. The infraction was found to be the second of his career – Sun tested positive for trimetazidine in May 2014 at Chinese Nationals, though the result and his three-month suspension were not made public until November of that year.
Sun pledged to appeal the more recent outcome to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, and his lawyer claimed that CAS “listened to all lies” in making its decision. He had a month after the decision to appeal, but Chinese media is reporting that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed action on his case.
Why am I not surprised