SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers whether they thought Sun Yang would be allowed to swim at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021:
RESULTS
Question: Will Sun Yang swim at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021?
- No, he’ll be banned by CAS – 58.1%
- Yes, his case won’t be settled by Tokyo – 29.7%
- Yes, he’ll be cleared by CAS – 12.1%
More than half of voters said they expect Chinese distance swimmer Sun Yang to be banned in time to keep him out of the Tokyo Olympics this year.
58.1% said Sun would be banned (for a second time) by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS. Sun was involved in an altercation at an out-of-competition doping test in the fall of 2018. In that incident, Sun challenged the credentials of doping control agents, and the night ended as one of Sun’s guards smashed a vial of Sun’s blood, claiming it had been drawn without authorization.
That’s where the story takes a turn into an alphabet soup of winding legal challenges.
FINA originally tried to ban Sun, but an independent doping panel cleared him. WADA appealed that ban to CAS. A CAS panel handed Sun an 8-year ban, though that fully public hearing was marred by frequent translation issues between Sun’s Chinese-speaking witnesses and the English-speaking panel. Sun appealed the decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which upheld one of his challenges, sending the case back to a different CAS panel after the chair of the original panel published racist tweets critical of China on social media.
- FINA= the world’s governing body for swimming
- WADA = World Anti-Doping Agency, a world-level organization governing anti-doping rules and testing
- CAS = Court of Arbitration for Sport, a body that hears and resolves sport-related disputes
29.7% thought Sun would be allowed to compete in Tokyo this year, but only because the CAS panel wouldn’t be able to re-hear his case and come to a decision by the summer. Originally, Sun’s case had a lengthy timeline. The scuffle at the doping test took place in the fall of 2018. The altercation wasn’t publicly revealed until January of 2019. WADA announced in March that it was appealing the FINA panel, and it took eight more months before CAS could hear the dispute, in November of 2019.
With the Olympics bearing down, though, the timeline might be sped up this time around to avoid the potential re-distributing of medals if Sun is banned after the Olympics.
Just 12.1% of voters thought Sun would be cleared outright by the Olympics slated for this coming July.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters how USA Swimming should handle an Olympic Trials meet amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic:
Loading ...
ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
The case is not about doping. The case is about him breaking the anti-doping rules because he broke his vial of blood. Read and understand before framing someone that he/she is a doper; regardless of whether it is Sun Yang, an American, or an Australian swimmer. Swimmers work all their lives at their livelihood.
The hate and jealousy is astounding. For decades swimming was a sport that I did not watch because the swimmers were uninteresting. I started watching swimming again because of the swimming technique and style of Sun Yang, which is far above all other swimmers. In sports, all skills and techniques adds seconds to the time and to the win. For swimmers like Horton, who did not show any sportmanship, need to learn that part of winning is also to lose gracefully. It would be a sad time for CAS to punish any athlete for political or bias. I believe the case against Sun Yang is politically and bias base.
He needs a fair hearing. He was already charged by the media before a fair hearing was provided. The Olympic is not only for European or America, it is for ALL countries. There were Australian, American, and other European swimmers who doped and are still competing. Everyone deserves fair and judicious treatment free of envy, jealousy, bias, or hate.
He ain’t coming back
Why is everyone so certain he was doping? From what I read the sample collectors didnt have proper ID. I would have reacted in a similar fashion. I wouldnt give my blood to just anyone.
They had all the ID they were required to have and Sun Yang had dealt with collection teams having the same level of ID in the past and this was the first time he’d refused to give a sample.
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if he was doping or not he still committed a doping violation.
he is going to get banned…but not in time for Tokyo 2021. It’s sad. And he will probably medal in the 200 400 and 800. Probably will get striped in October, but by then he will have taken away someone’s olympic moment, and the fame and money that comes with it. He is an amazing talent, even though he doped. We don’t need a sun yang in swimming.
Nobody knows . It is not a court of Arbitration at all if the decision h as been made.
S-shining Sun will show you all!. H-He will beat this case then he will beat Dressel in the 100 free!
D-Dream On
Without Sun Yang this amazing true talent, 200,400,800,1500 free style competition will be so boring to watch…
He hasn’t been a medal contender in anything above 400 for a long time.
He won the world’s freestyle event not really that ago. He was tested all year in 2019 after his controversial incident and so far, no tests came back positive.
He hasn’t won a medal of any colour in 800 or 1500 at Worlds or Olympics since 2015.