Sun Yang is back in competition and wasted no time returning to his winning ways.
The 32-year-old Sun won the 400 freestyle at China’s National Summer Swimming Championships in his first meet since serving a four-year and three-month doping suspension. Sun’s suspension—originally set for eight years before being reduced—ended in May.
It was an emotional day at the Sumer Championships for Sun, who broke down in tears during an interview after winning his prelims heat in 3:54.98 and qualifying for the final in second. “[Getting back to this point] really is because of the reliance and support from my family,” Sun said after his heats swim, per the South China Morning Post.
When asked what it was like to be back racing, he said to CGTN Sports Scene “It was a very familiar feeling. I felt nervous and I bit anxious. It had really been a long time, and this was my first race. I hadn’t had this feeling for a very long time, and I needed to feel it again.”
Clip of Sun’s 400 free prelim swim
🇨🇳China’s Sun Yang made his comeback at the 2024 National Summer #Swimming Championships on Sunday.
🏊♂️Representing the Zhejiang team, the three-time Olympic champion finished 2nd in the men’s 400m freestyle preliminaries with a time of ⏱️3:54.98 and reached the final. pic.twitter.com/jD86onxDKC
— CGTN Sports Scene (@CGTNSportsScene) August 25, 2024
Courtesy CGTN Sports Scene
Sun went on to win the final in 3:49.58, ahead of Xu Haibo (3:50.14) and Xu Yizhou (3:51.31).
“I could have done better,” Sun told the Shanghai Daily after the final. “Four years away from competition, and without intensive training, I do feel rusty in controlling the tempo, and I need more competitions. But it’s a good start for my comeback, and I’m happy with this result.”
Sun was allowed to train during his suspension, but he was barred from doing so at a government-funded training facility, with a professional team, or any other Chinese-sponsored athletes. In December 2021, he was under investigation for training at a government-funded facility, though his ban was not restarted. In February, SwimSwam reported that Sun was training daily and remained registered in China’s drug-testing pool.
After prelims when he was asked if he would try to qualify for the 2028 Olympics, Sun responded “If there’s an opportunity, I will go all out to get it.”
You can review the timeline of how the three-time Olympic champion’s doping suspension unfolded below. A full recap of the 2024 National Summer Swimming Championships is forthcoming.
Sun Yang‘s Suspension Timeline
- September 2018: Sun challenges authorization of doping control agents during test, ending with a vial of his blood being smashed
- January 2019: an independent anti-doping panel rules in Sun’s favor, leading FINA (the international governing body for swimming) to not issue a sanction against Sun
- March 2019: WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) appeals that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
- November 2019: CAS hears the case in a fully-public hearing marred by translation issues. The full 11-hour hearing is live-streamed online.
- February 2020: The three-person CAS panel rules against Sun, banning him for eight years.
- July 2020: Sun files two appeals with the Swiss Federal Tribunal, hoping to either have his ban overturned or revised.
- December 2020: The Swiss Federal Tribunal overturns the ban, sending the case back to CAS for a second hearing. The decision centers around the first panel’s president, who tweeted racist comments about China on social media.
- May 2021: Yang does not compete at the Chinese National Championships, amid uncertainty of the outcome of his CAS retrial.
- June 2021: CAS retrial results in ruling to reduce Yang’s ban to 4 years and 3 months
- December 2021: Sun Yang Under Investigation for Training at Government-Funded Facilities
- February 2024: Sun Yang Not Giving Up On Paris 2024
- May 2024: Sun Yang Eyes Return To Competition as Doping Suspension Ends
- August 2024: Sun Yang Reportedly Returning To Racing At China’s Summer National Championships
i know that there is a lot of controversy about whether or not he should be able to swim again but…
you can’t deny that his stroke and technique is almost perfect and it would be cool to watch him swim at another big meet and analyze his technique, whether he does good or not
He did the crime, he did the time. The rules say he can come back. One can argue he should have had a longer suspension but he didn’t. So he is eligible to compete unless he fails another test.
So what are they feeding him now
Y’all acting like Justin Gatlin didn’t come nack from his ban and performed well enough. Sun can do the same. If not better to prove something to the US at their home soil olympics. Just wait and watch
Look at Shayna Jack. I don’t believe there was a peep about her testing positive and serving a ban in discrediting or qualifying the win(s) she helped to contribute to the Australian female swim relays in any of the call of her races.
Meanwhile, Dan Hicks dropped a non-sequitur about two of the Chinese medley relay team testing positive, while failing to add they were cleared not only by WADA but World Aquatics and International Testing Agency (ITA), which the latter had been following up with targeted testing of the Chinese swim team persistently every single year since 2021. Don’t omit essential facts to prop up the Americans coming in second or add some sideways excuse.
The live stream… Read more »
LaShawn Merritt comes to mind as well
The dude will be like 36 or 37 and plans to swim the longer distances. I don’t know about you all but I will be willing to entertain this.
Grant Hackett went 1:46.8 in the 200 (his career best was 1:45.6) and 3:46.5 in the 400 (his career best was 3:42.5) after being off for 6+ years and with just 6 months of formal training when he was 34-years-old.
This probably portends well for Sun.
Really? The greatest distance swimmer ever had to swim great in the 800 in Paris to hold off a 200/400 swimmer – with no years long break – at 27!!
He won’t win anything at 36.
I hope his hammer is in the garbage.
If he’s clean and swims well it is what it is and the result should be praised
Which result, the race or the doping test?