Perhaps the world’s most outrageous swimmer, Chinese champion Sun Yang, is considering competing in the Paris Olympics. The period of his disqualification for violating anti-doping rules ends several months before the start of the 2024 Games, and Sun Yang will formally be eligible to start.
In Paris, Sun Yang is unlikely to be happy with anyone. But this guy never cared about other people’s opinions. Even now he doesn’t care about anyone.
Every time Ian gets his way:
Unsinkable. The Chinese champion smashed his anti-doping tests with a hammer, but was again acquitted
Champion and fighter
Sun Yang is an extremely controversial personality in the swimming world. He is an eleven-time world champion, three-time Olympic champion and nine-time Asian Games winner. He has a world record set at the London Olympics: in the distance of 1,500 m freestyle, the stopwatch read 14:31.02.
In China, Yang is idolized, but in the rest of the world the attitude towards him is more than moderate. The fact is that much more is known about his impudence and rudeness than about his awards. Or he crashes into a bus on the highway, while he’s driving a car without a license, or he raises his hand to a girl. Thus, in the 2015 World Cup, the Chinese did not share the entire group with the Brazilian athlete Larissa Oliveira. A conflict arose between the swimmers, during which Sun attempted to hit the girl with his elbow and kick her.
sun yang
Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
But the biggest scandals, of course, have to do with doping.
It all started in 2014, when trimetazidine was discovered in the blood of a Chinese man during a national competition. Sun himself explained the presence of the banned substance by saying that it entered the body through arrhythmia medications that the doctor gave him. As a result, he was suspended for only three months and the doctor for one year.
Destroyed a test tube with a hammer.
But the really serious problems for the Chinese began in 2018, when anti-doping agents arrived at Sun Yang’s house. Yang, as expected, donated blood, after which he appeared to discover inconsistencies in the documents he was required to sign. Furthermore, the doping assistant filmed without his permission. All this caused discontent among the Chinese. He called the coach, the lawyer and the team manager, and they prohibited him from signing the papers. The conflict led to chaos: the swimmer and the security guard smashed a container with test tubes containing samples from the Chinese with a hammer.
The international federation treated this situation leniently, considering that the procedure did not take place according to the rules, which means that the control was not carried out in principle. After which the Chinese were allowed to quietly participate in the 2019 World Championships, where they took home two golds. True, these victories were not recognized by their rivals: the Australian Mack Horton and the British Duncan Scott refused to go up to the podium with the Chinese champion and shake his hand.
Sun Yang responded harshly to his attacker:
Video
Sun Yang to the British who boycotted him: you are a loser, I am a winner!
WADA appealed the international federation’s decision and the Court of Arbitration for Sport ultimately suspended Sun Yang for eight years. It is worth noting that he was not deprived of the awards he had already received, since no banned substances were actually found in his body.
It seemed like the champion’s career was over, but no. Following the next series of trials in that murky story in Sun Yang’s house, the punishment for the Chinese swimmer was softened: four years instead of eight.
“I’m preparing for the Olympic Games”
And now, three years after his suspension, Sun Yang announces that he will compete at the 2024 Olympic Games. As it turned out, all this time the Chinese continued to train and was preparing to return to the international level. One day he was even spotted in a government-funded pool: a disqualified athlete is prohibited from training there. But for an athlete who smashed test tubes with doping samples with a hammer, this seems like a trifle.
How Sun Yang violated the terms of his disqualification:
The Chinese swimmer who hit doping samples with a hammer was caught again. Will Sun Yang come out again?
“Personally, I never said I would leave the sport or give up. At every stage of life we experience difficulties and now I have completely let myself go. I know I have to stay in shape. I train every day, preparing for the Olympic Games. The suspension made me stronger,” said the Chinese.
Sun Yang is one of those who believes that everything always happens for the best. That is why he deals philosophically with his repeated disqualification:
“Maybe I wouldn’t have changed so much and wouldn’t have matured so quickly if I hadn’t experienced these difficulties and failures,” the athlete reasoned.
In the summer of 2024, Sun Yang will turn 32 years old. A fairly appropriate age to compete in the Olympic Games. Starting in March she will be able to compete and try to qualify for the Chinese team. If he shows his strength, he will definitely be included in the team: the Chinese will not pay attention to his controversial past.
Well, at the Olympic Games there will be intrigue: will someone shake his hand?
