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The case of Sun Yang will soon come to a decision: will his career be over, or will the controversial swimmer take to the pool at Tokyo 2020? Photo: Reuters
Opinion
Patrick Blennerhassett
Patrick Blennerhassett

Sun Yang: will Chinese swimmer go out with a bang or a whimper?

  • The 29-year-old’s fate hangs on the ruling that will determine if he gets into the pool for Tokyo 2020
  • Competing at the Summer Olympics would create a firestorm of controversy and negative press
Patrick Blennerhassett
Patrick Blennerhassett
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The saga of Sun Yang will reach a conclusion soon, and we should finally get a definitive answer in the final chapter of the polarising swimmer’s career.

Two opposing narratives could yet play out. One, a quiet denouement to the Chinese superstar’s once bright career, signalling the end of his fall from grace. The other a fabulously controversial one which involves an Olympic Games, Rule 50 and an overarching meta-narrative of geopolitics.

Next week the Court of Arbitration of Sport will kick off a second hearing concerning a now legendary day that took place in September of 2018.

Three dope testers, private officials hired by the World Anti-Doping Agency, arrived at Sun’s house in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, to conduct a random test. During the procedure, one of the testers took a picture of the swimmer, who then became suspicious. Sun asked for identification and only the lead tester was able to provide paperwork.

Sun Yang’s fate once again hangs in the balance. Photo: Reuters

After asking his doctor to come to his house and consulting Chinese swimming officials, Sun refused to complete the test. The testers declined to leave any equipment behind, prompting Sun’s security guard to smash a blood vial to allow the team to retrieve the broken glass.

Swimming body Fina gave Sun a warning but Wada took the case to CAS, which found him guilty and handed him an eight-year ban in February of 2020. The Swiss Federal Tribunal, on appeal, sent the case back to CAS after one of the Italian panellists, Franco Frattini, was found to have a history of posting anti-Chinese comments on social media.

Lawyer slams ‘white European men’ CAS panel in Sun Yang case

Following the verdict from the first hearing, many diehard Chinese fans pulled a remarkable about face, turning on their once beloved golden boy en masse, however his lawyers’ successful appeal has since muddied that water.
This brings us to Sun’s second trial, and an eventual verdict that now has an appearance at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo hanging in the balance. The 29-year-old could swim at the Games this summer as China has held open places for swimmers that won gold at the 2019 worlds. If Sun is cleared in this second case, the Chinese Swimming Association will most likely move heaven and earth to get him into the pool in Tokyo.

This is bad news for everyone involved, except maybe Sun.

The court of public opinion has long since cast its verdict on Sun, which includes the international swimming community and Sun’s competitors in the pool. This was made clear at the World Swimming Championships in South Korea in 2019.

Sun Yang has polarised the swimming community for years. Photo: Yonhap

Australian Mack Horton, who has previously called Sun a “drug cheat”, refused to get on the podium with him after the Chinese swimmer won gold in the 400m freestyle. Later, British swimmer Duncan Scott refused to take the podium with Sun, or shake his hand, after Sun beat him in the 200-metre freestyle final.

Sun is the defending Olympic champion in the 200m freestyle, having won gold at the Rio 2016 Games, however in 2014 he was found guilty of doping, and his punishment became a debacle as the CSA only banned him from competing for three months. The substance found in Sun’s system, trimetazidine, which he said was prescribed by a doctor, is now banned in and out of competition under Wada’s rules.

There is no denying that what happened on that fateful day in 2018 was a complete mess that may never make sense, and there is also no denying that Sun’s subsequent trial process via the CAS is just as messy and does not conjure any thoughts of ironclad impartiality. 

But if Sun is acquitted this time around, all hell is going to break loose this summer at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. The International Olympic Committee’s hare-brained Rule 50, which bans athletes from protesting during medal ceremonies, or at any time during the Games for that matter, will become supercharged.

If Sun Yang competes at Tokyo he will become a lightning rod of controversy. Photo: Xinhua

Sun could win a medal and find himself standing solo on a podium as the whole world watches and the IOC finds itself in the middle of a PR disaster for the ages. The two countries of which Horton and Scott hail from, Australia and the UK, find themselves in tense geopolitical stand-offs with China on a number of issues.

The Australian press will go to town on Sun, even more so if Horton does what he did back in South Korea. The same can probably be expected in the UK press if Scott gets on the podium with Sun.

Alternatively, if Sun is found guilty, he protests and the news media quickly turns away from his dimming light. Sun fades into the distance and is likely never heard from again. An eight-year ban, the original ruling, if delivered again would be a definitive knockout blow to a swimmer who would by then be in his late 30s before he could even hop in a pool for another international competition.

We will soon get an answer to this question: will Tokyo 2020 provide one final theatre stage for the most controversial swimmer of all-time, or will Sun Yang’s notorious career end with not a bang, but a whimper?
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