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Swimmer Sun Yang unlikely to join China’s squad for Olympics
It seems that controversial Chinese swimming star Sun Yang is unlikely to join China's swimming squad for the Olympics despite being able to swim competitively after a ban on him was provisionally lifted.
An eight-year ban handed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sunday for refusing to give samples during a surprise doping test was ordered to a retrial by the Swiss Federal Tribunal in December, after it was discovered that a CAS judge, Franco Frattini of Italy, had made racist anti-Chinese posts on social media.
But Sun did not appear at the Chinese national championships, a domestic qualifying series for the Olympics, held in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province from April 30 to May 8.
An April 29 notice released by China's swimming governing body over the selection of China's Olympics swimming squad says "winners of 2019 World Championships will automatically qualify for the Olympics." That means it is still possible for Sun to compete for China in Tokyo, as he won the 200- and 400-meter freestyle at the swimming worlds in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019.
Whether Sun will be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics will be determined by CAS later in May, just two months before the coronavirus-delayed Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to begin.
The upcoming CAS hearing on Sun's case will be held behind closed doors instead of a public hearing like the one in 2020, which was labeled dramatic but tedious.
Elsewhere, the former poster boy of the Chinese national swimming team and three-time Olympic gold medalist did not appear in the latest promotional campaign released on Tuesday.
As China adheres to a zero tolerance policy over doping violations, especially as the Winter Olympics is set to be held in China in 2022, having a tainted athlete compete in the Summer Olympics seems too big a risk to afford.
But the hypothesis will only be invalidated if a new CAS decision totally clears Sun's controversial actions during the surprise doping test.
An eight-year ban handed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sunday for refusing to give samples during a surprise doping test was ordered to a retrial by the Swiss Federal Tribunal in December, after it was discovered that a CAS judge, Franco Frattini of Italy, had made racist anti-Chinese posts on social media.
But Sun did not appear at the Chinese national championships, a domestic qualifying series for the Olympics, held in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province from April 30 to May 8.
An April 29 notice released by China's swimming governing body over the selection of China's Olympics swimming squad says "winners of 2019 World Championships will automatically qualify for the Olympics." That means it is still possible for Sun to compete for China in Tokyo, as he won the 200- and 400-meter freestyle at the swimming worlds in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019.
Whether Sun will be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics will be determined by CAS later in May, just two months before the coronavirus-delayed Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to begin.
The upcoming CAS hearing on Sun's case will be held behind closed doors instead of a public hearing like the one in 2020, which was labeled dramatic but tedious.
Elsewhere, the former poster boy of the Chinese national swimming team and three-time Olympic gold medalist did not appear in the latest promotional campaign released on Tuesday.
As China adheres to a zero tolerance policy over doping violations, especially as the Winter Olympics is set to be held in China in 2022, having a tainted athlete compete in the Summer Olympics seems too big a risk to afford.
But the hypothesis will only be invalidated if a new CAS decision totally clears Sun's controversial actions during the surprise doping test.
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