During the first finals session of the 2015 FINA World Championships, we saw China’s Sun Yang clinch the gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle. Sun got to the wall first in a time of 3:42.58, beating out strong showings by Britain’s James Guy and Canada’s Ryan Cochrane for silver and bronze.
Not all of the news post-race was exactly positive, however, as Sun’s doping cloud continues to follow him all the way to Kazan. Sun was banned for three months in the summer of 2014 due to a positive doping test at last year’s Chinese National Championships. Today, Sun let the media know exactly how he feels about that.
During a press conference after finals today, Sun Yang expressed, “For the doping cases, I don’t know why the media paid so much attention to this. The world media seems to think that whenever the Chinese get a good result, we are doping. We are training and working hard, just like athletes in countries all over the world.”
Sun further diverted attention to other situations, saying, “Athletes have been caught doping in other countries, like Australia, but not much is made of that and I think it’s disrespectful to China.” Sun Yang may be referring to the recent case of Australia’s Kylie Palmer who pulled out of worlds due to a controversial test dating back to 2013.
Regarding his own case, Sun Yang mentions the word ‘mistake’, a word common to those in a defensive position when faced with the scientific proof of a positive doping test. “As athletes, we are working very hard and of course, there are times when get injured and sometimes we take things we don’t know about and it’s a genuine mistake,” Sun said. He continued, “I hope the media all over the world can have a fair attitude to Chinese athletes and treat us fairly.”
Sun Yang is slated to swim a full freestyle schedule this meet, which includes the 200m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.
Wow, the arrogance…way to pass the buck onto the Aussies Sun.
If ledecky were older, in her late 20s/early 30s and still performing these times, then I would be suspicious. But she’s not. She’s an 18 year old girl, for crying out loud. She just finished her senior year of high school, guys. If she were to take performance-enhancing medication at any stage of her career, it wouldn’t be now.
Ye Shiwen was 15 when she was interrogated!
Sun Yang needs a better PR team. His answer essentially turned the entire Australia against him. That can not be as intended.
Didn’t he train in Australia? Not very endearing, for sure.
He was denied by many Australian training centers…
No point to take offense. He ain’t saying anything wrong, and he did not intend to offense anyone. I reckon everyone has his own judgement.
There are in fact bias against Chinese athletes as Deraj pointed out. Ye Shiwen is definitely a case of racism/generalization. Just because Chinese from 90s use drug that does not mean every Chinese after that use drug.
Sun Yang however is not since he’s been proven guilty. His short period of ban is certainly controversial. FINA need to explain to us why is it they are fine with short period of ban on Sun Yang while other athletes serve a longer ban. Without a proper explanation from FINA, one can not help but speculate. FINA owe us an explanation.
I still consider Sun Yang a legitimate champion since Trimetazidine is not ban until 2014 and there’s no evidence of him… Read more »
@SWIM I read somewhere that trimetazidine is no longer banned since Jan 1st 2015, due to lack of evidence it can enhance the performance of athletes. It just makes Sun Yang’s doping case more curious.
If trimetazidine is confirmed not a performance enhancing drug, it can not be enhancing Sun’s performance in 2014 and prior.
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with effect of trimetazidine. Since trimetazidine is not ban until 2014, anyone could have taken it, not just Sun Yang.
No one is above the rule. The rule said trimetazidine is legal prior 2014 so Sun Yang achievement is still legitimate whether people like it or not.
Los Feliz – I haven’t seen the study you reference on its benefits or not, but it’s definitely still banned. Here’s the 2015 Prohibited List: https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/files/wada-2015-prohibited-list-en.pdf
Isn’t it wonderful to use the race card (a spurious allegation and COMPLETELY unprovable) whenever you want to muzzle criticism!
I call horse manure.
Only by sticking your head in the proverbial sand is it possible to overlook signs of doping in the case of Ye Shiwen.
I’ll post what I posted before:
Several things to note on that. First, the charges on Ye Shiwen to me seem more suspicious considering the nature in which she won the 400IM and set the WR in London. Her 58.68 final 100 was faster than some of the men competing in the 400IM final (Michael Phelps at his peak in the Beijing Olympics swam 56.79 for the final leg – the same guy… Read more »
Sorry, can you show me the relay video you talking about?
No need to constantly mention the past controversy of China. That won’t prove anything.
Not just Ledecky, how about Hosszu? No suspicion at all? LOL
There has been plenty of suspicion with Hosszu on these boards.
Denis Cotterell and Zhang Yadong together with Sun Yang after the 400 free final
http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/0068RnRjjw1eup57vmrdhj318f0tmthv.jpg
Katie ledecky just broke her 1,500 world record in the heats. no eyebrows raised. just praise.
and by the way anyone who doesn’t realize that sun yang,s case is unique is dense.
Sun yang,s case is probably the first of it,s kind.