Sun Yang CAS hearing: Swimmer thanks ‘construction worker’ as China introduces new doping laws to punish others as well as athletes
- China anti-doping boss welcomes Supreme People’s Court decision to punish trafficking, selling and production of banned substances
- ‘The truth will never be covered by lies,’ says swimmer in post following Chinese state media report
China has announced new laws on doping prosecutions in the aftermath of Sun Yang’s Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in Switzerland last week, while the swimmer has thanked the tester interviewed by state media outlet Xinhua for his “honesty”.
On Monday, the Supreme People’s Court brought in new laws to deal with doping that will come into effect on January 1, 2020. The laws will focus on the production, sale and trafficking of banned substances.
“This move is profoundly important in China’s fight against doping,” China Anti-doping Agency (Chinada) chief executive Chen Zhiyu said.
He explained that the changes aim to crack down on those behind the scenes, rather than focusing solely on prosecuting athletes.
“At the recent World Conference on Doping in Sport, the International Olympic Committee said the fight against doping needs governmental support. That’s what China has been doing,” Chen told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Sun thanked the anonymous worker on his official Sina Weibo account, saying: “I want to thank the urine inspector for being honest and brave!
“He stood up and admitted to taking pictures of me that night. He also admitted that no one had ever taught him how to do a doping test and had no relevant training.
“Before the hearing, he expressed his willingness to video testimony to the arbitral tribunal, but CAS did not contact him. However, the truth will never be covered by lies.”
There have been thousands of comments to Sun’s post and to articles relating to that interview on websites such as online sports portal Sina Sports. These include messages backing Yang’s claims that the testers were unqualified and general messages of support for their star athlete.
Stories around the case have ranged from analysing Sun’s testimony and closing statement in court to video tours of his “normal” home in Zhejiang, in the compound where the test took place.
Sun seems unperturbed by the potential ban hanging over him, according to his only post-hearing interview.
“I'm not worried about the final decisions of arbitration,” Sun told Xinhua. “I’m confident that after today, all anti-doping test agencies will stick to the rules closely, which in turn will give much better protection of the legal rights and privacy to all athletes.
“The good news is that all the stress is gone now after the hearing,” he said.
Sun is already back in training as he prepares for competitions leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games next summer. No ruling is expected from the CAS hearing until next year, although if the court finds in favour of world anti-doping body Wada then Sun will face a ban that keeps him away from a fourth Games.
The swimmer also reiterated his belief that there is a defamation campaign against him.
“I can tell that some vicious force was manipulating the public opinion against me and even the whole Chinese swimming team during the world championships in Gwangju,” Sun said.
“Individual athletes are always the underdogs when defending their legal rights in the face of unfair treatment by sports organisations. That is why I insisted that the hearing be public. I only regret that it was not held much earlier, as I have been waiting too long.”
