On December 18, Beijing time, according to the exclusive news of the British media "Times", the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is launching a new investigation into Sun Yang because he is suspected of using official venues for secret training during the ban.
On February 28, 2020, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced the verdict of the "Sun Yang Violent Resistance Case", and Sun Yang was banned for 8 years for violating anti-doping regulations, effective on the same day. Subsequently, Sun Yang and his team of lawyers appealed to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, demanding that the ruling be set aside and that the case be retried.
On December 14, 2020, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court announced the revocation of CAS's ban on Sun Yang, and CAS needed to reconstitute an arbitration team to retry the case.
On June 22 this year, CAS announced the results of its second hearing on Sun Yang's case, and the Olympic champion's eight-year ban was reduced to four years and three months (from February 28, 2020 to May 28, 2024).
In the end, Sun Yang missed this summer's Tokyo Olympics. At the same time, he will not be able to participate in next year's Asian Games in Hangzhou. However, in theory, Sun Yang still has the opportunity to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. In the previous birthday live broadcast, Sun Yang also made it clear for the first time that he wanted to return to the Olympics, although he would be close to 33 years old.
Earlier, according to the Beiqing Daily reporter, since the beginning of March last year, Sun Yang has resumed independent training. But herein lies the problem. The latest news from the British media today pointed out that "a whistleblower from China contacted the Times to provide photographic evidence of Sun Yang's training at the Juvenile Sports School in Anji County, Zhejiang Province." The Times then submitted the "family' report evidence to WADA.
This school has gone out with a number of world champions, national champions and outstanding athletes of national and provincial teams, and is a high-level sports reserve talent base in Zhejiang, known as the "cradle of champions in northern Zhejiang".
However, under The World Anti-Doping Regulations "10.14.1" issued by WADA, athletes who are banned from competitions may not participate in training camps, exhibition matches or practices organized by their national sports association or clubs that are members of the national sports association or member clubs of the national sports association, or funded by government agencies.
A WADA spokesperson said, "We are investigating the matter and have been in touch with relevant organisations, including FINA, to determine whether Sun Yang has violated the terms of the ban." WADA is also contacting the Chinese Swimming Association, but the latter has not yet responded.
If the act is determined to be a violation, Sun Yang's previous 22-month suspension will be cleared and the suspension period will be recalculated, which also means that he will be determined not to qualify for the Paris Olympics, and his sports career may end here.