Swimming-China's Sun Yang to miss Tokyo Olympics after CAS verdict (updated)

CammSys

22/06/2021 16:15

* CAS reduced Sun Yang's doping ban from eight years to four
    * Chinese swimmer will miss Tokyo Games
    * Sun will be eligible for Paris 2024 
    * WADA welcomes the decision 

 (Adds FINA statement, background)
    June 22 (Reuters) - World and Olympic champion Sun Yang's
hopes of competing at the Tokyo Games ended on Tuesday when the
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced the Chinese
swimmer's ban for doping violations to four years from eight.
    The shorter sentence, announced by the Swiss-based court in
a statement https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_6148_Decision_June21.pdf,
 means Sun will be eligible for the Paris Games in 2024 when he
will be 32 years old.
    The 200 metres freestyle champion was banned after he and
members of his entourage were found to have smashed vials
containing blood samples taken at an out-of-competition test in
September 2018.
    A highly controversial figure in swimming but with plenty of
supporters at home, Sun had questioned the credentials and
identity of the testers and has constantly proclaimed his
innocence.
    The 29-year-old, who also won two golds at London 2012, had 
been boosted by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court last December
upholding his challenge against the CAS panel on grounds that a
judge had exhibited possible bias against Chinese people.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2N71T2
    The latest CAS panel, chaired by a different president,    
found that Sun had "acted recklessly" in refusing to allow the
blood samples to leave.
    It considered the circumstances surrounding the sample
collection "merited a period of ineligibility at the lower end
of the range".
    "Consequently, the panel concluded that a period of
ineligibility of four years and three months commencing on
February 28, 2020 is to be imposed on Sun Yang," it said.
    Sun served a three-month doping suspension in 2014 for
taking the stimulant trimetazidine, which he said he took to
treat a heart condition.
    FINA said in a statement that it acknowledged the CAS ruling
 and would enforce it "according to its terms, and in accordance
with its obligations as a Signatory to the World Anti-Doping
Code."
    "FINA remains committed to the protection of all clean
aquatics athletes worldwide and will carefully consider the
90-page award," it added.
    WADA welcomed the ruling in a statement. 
    "The decision by the Swiss Federal Tribunal to set aside the
CAS award was limited to a challenge made against the Chair of
the CAS Panel and had nothing to do with the substance of this
case," said director general Olivier Niggli.
    "Today’s ruling reconfirms WADA’s position in relation to
the original FINA ruling, which was that there were a number of
points that were inconsistent with the Code. Today’s CAS ruling
validates those concerns."
    Australian Mack Horton, who called Sun a drug cheat at the
2016 Rio Olympics and refused to share the podium with him at
the 2019 world championships in South Korea, will be at the
Tokyo Games.
    He will not be able to defend his 400m freestyle title in
Tokyo, however, after failing to qualify for the event in the
Australian trials. He has been included in the squad as a relay
swimmer.

 (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru/Alan Baldwin in
London; Editing by Alex Richardson and Christian Radnedge)
 ((Shrivathsa.Sridhar@thomsonreuters.com;))