My Take | Sun Yang may not be a nice guy, but neither is he a drug cheat
Chinese swimming star embroiled in doping row with rivals is simply a case of nationalism ruling the roost on international sports stage
The paradoxical thing about international sports like the Olympics is that it brings out the nationalists in many people. I have naturalised Canadian friends who are proud of their adopted country, but once they turn to the TV sports channels, they inevitably become Aussies, Italians, Poles and Chinese again.
For sure, international athletes are trained by state-sponsored bodies and represent their countries when they compete. But it also means we don’t see them as individuals, with their greatness and pettiness, strengths and weaknesses that are all their own.
Take the feud between China’s superstar swimmer Sun Yang, and his Australian and French rivals Mack Horton and Camille Lacourt.
Horton accused him of being “a drug cheat”, while Lacourt said Sun made him sick because “he pisses purple”, that is, testing positive for drug back in 2014.