Chinese swimming star Sun Yang, who famously clashed with Australia’s Mack Horton at the Rio Olympics before the Australian outlasted him for 400 metres freestyle gold, has found himself in more hot water after reports he smashed a vial of blood with a hammer during an out-of-competition doping test at his home in Zhejiang province.
The Sunday Times in London wrote that Sun and his team, including his mother Ming Yang, had concerns with the identification documents of testers and he and a security guard were alleged to have crushed a sealed vial with a hammer. If true, the incident could see the controversial swimmer facing a life ban from competition.
China’s Sun Yang was beaten by Mack Horton in the 400m freestyle at the Rio Olympics.Credit:Steve Christo
Sun already has a doping suspension to his name and was called out as a ‘drug cheat’ by Horton in Rio three years ago. Horton was able to back up his words with a thrilling victory but he was the subject of relentless online attacks from Chinese swimming fans, to whom Sun is little short of an icon.
In January, a FINA doping panel ruled in favour of Sun and were reported to have said they would ‘never know’ the truth about the matter. But the World Anti-Doping Agency is reported to be seething and could take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Sun has a long and controversial history in and around the pool but already has gold medals over 200m, 400m and 1500m at the Olympic Games. His run-in with Horton in Rio began when the Herald uncovered a training pool incident between the pair and it only escalated from there.
In the report, The Sunday Times said that the testing officer made a number of calls to the headquarters of testing agency IDTM in Sweden to ask for guidance as requests for a collection of samples continued to hit roadblocks. The tester said she heard the sound of breaking glass while she was on the phone, going on to find that Sun and a member of his security staff had broken a vial.
The FINA hearing was also told that Sun took the testing official’s note pad and ‘tore it up’ before they were warned of the potential of another anti-doping violation. The incident did not end until nearly 4am.
The deadline for appeals to CAS is looming and if WADA do want to take the matter further, it would be a case of intense interest in the year before the Tokyo Games.
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