Aussie Coach Denis Cotterell Changes Tune After Sun Yang 8-Year Ban

While Chinese Olympian Sun Yang‘s attorney said that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ‘listened to prejudice’ and ‘accepted all lies’ in his case, which resulted in an 8-year-ban, Sun’s long-time coach Denis Cotterell is apparently no longer in his ace swimmer’s corner.

Sun Yang has vowed to appeal his ban to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, however, Cotterell has since quit his Chinese swimming post in the aftermath of the immense controversy.

“I have terminated my contract with (the) Chinese Swimming Association,” Cotterell told The Sunday Telegraph. He also stated that he does not support Sun’s appeal.

The national coach has a long history of having worked with Chinese swimmers throughout his career. Not only has he hosted several different Chinese training groups throughout his time at Miami, but Cotterell also had a major hand in the success of Sun Yang at the 2012 Olympic Games, having originally formed a relationship with the multiple medalist back in 2008.

In 2017 after Sun won 200m free gold and 400m free silver in Rio a year earlier, Cotterell called out fellow Australians for being too critical of foreign athletes involved in doping situations when their own athletes aren’t immune to similar circumstances.

As we reported 3 years ago, in an article for The Daily Telegraph, Cotterell cited Aussie Samantha Riley’s positive test back in 1995 and, most recently, Kylie Palmer‘s positive result in 2013 as falling under the same umbrella as Sun Yang, yet the public’s reaction was different.