Waiting out a two-year ban for doping, she agreed to a 'tell-all' interview about how she had been beaten by her ruthless but conspicuously effective coach, Wang Dexian. The expose was lapped up by the media as Sun confirmed Chinese athletics still exists in a brutal world full of skullduggery.

Her sizzling revelations no doubt brought groans of 'not again!' from China's State General Administration of Sport (CSGAS). To quell international criticism ahead of China's 2008 Games bid, the CSGAS lowered the profile of Chinese women athletes after it was claimed their success in swimming and distance running during the 1990s was down to doping, and a brutal and dehumanising 'eat bitterness' training regime.

All was quiet until Sun tested positive for doping at the National Championships in October 2005.

A month later, British Olympic champion and former IOC member Matthew Pinsent visited a Shanghai training camp and said he had a 'disturbing experience' in which he saw young gymnasts being physically and mentally abused. Then came the August dope bust at the Liaoning Anshan Athletics School, where staff were caught red-handed injecting teenage starlets as young as 15 with banned substances.

The nation's sports chiefs were hoping for another quiet period - hopefully until September 1, 2008.

Then Sun broke her silence last week and told of beatings, missing money, drugs, death threats, ruined careers, social disgrace - and love and forgiveness.

'Although he beat me and called me an ingrate and threatened to kill my mum and dad, he took care of me very well and was like a parent to me during the 11 years I trained with him,' Sun said of her mentor and long-term coach Wang in her interview. 'So I don't hate him. I know that he wanted me to be good, and to get good results,' she added.

Sun also detailed how one of the regular thrashings by a buckled belt - meted out to make her run faster - ended in a broken collarbone.

'[Wang] beat me - beat me so badly that he broke my collarbone. If that had carried on, I could not even go on living, never mind think about winning the Olympic title,' she revealed.

Then came the doping scandal that tainted her international success in the 10,000m and 5,000m disciplines, and dashed hopes of running for Olympic gold on home turf.

Sun had tested positive for the banned steroid androsterone and was subsequently banned for two years while coach Wang was banished for life.

Last December, she claimed Wang had withheld over 200,000 yuan in competition earnings owed to her and then later denied the reports. She then remained tight-lipped when her mother accused Wang of beating her daughter.

In a bizarre twist, a court ruled in January that Sun's drink had been spiked by a rival at the domestic meet which led to her ban.

Despite the brutality and high drama, she stuck with Wang until August this year when they finally split up and Sun decamped for Yunnan.

There, she is coachless and is financing her own training.

She has been told by the Chinese Athletics Association the window for the Beijing Games remains open once her ban is lifted late next year.

The mainland media pack descended on her training camp after her impromptu CCTV appearance. During angry exchanges with reporters, she threatened to take their cameras away.

However, the Sunday Morning Post caught up with her in her dormitory room by telephone, and she revealed she was on the look out for a new coach.

And she said she desperately wanted to compete for a 2008 gold medal. 'I want a new coach to help train me for the Olympics. I want to be in Beijing,' she said. She is still contracted to the government-backed Locomotive Sports Association, and is waiting for her release papers. 'I think the sports association will offer me some candidates and will discuss them with me.

'Right now, I'm training on my own. I have been here since the end of July. My boyfriend, Wang Chengrong, is a trainer for disabled athletes here, so I am close by him for support.'

She says her media interview last week was a one-off.

'I have moved on and want to keep training. I have told the media everything about what happened with Wang, and have nothing more to say,' she said.

Sun, who was seen on Thursday running alongside disabled athletes, said the training base had offered her a discounted 70 yuan for using the facilities.

'I'm training on my own, and everything's fine.'