The controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, 28, has been suspended for eight years from all competition by the Sports Arbitral Tribunal. The triple Olympic champion, whom the French Camille Lacourt accused of "pissing purple", was found guilty of having violated the anti-doping rules following an unexpected gigantic test carried out at his home in September 2018.
The athlete, already suspended three months in 2014 after a positive trimetazidine test, had first disputed the identity of the chaperones responsible for taking his urine before finally destroying blood samples with the help of his security guard.
The International Swimming Federation (FINA), often suspected of being lax against him, had not ultimately condemned him for a procedural defect in the collection, triggering the appeal of the World Anti-Doping Agency before the CAS. Sun Yang had appeared on November 15 in an audience, also surreal, marked by translation problems.
The three trial judges unanimously found that Sun Yang had broken the rules, establishing in particular that the person in charge of the control was duly authorized and that the man with eleven world titles had not provided any valid justification for his act. The icon of Chinese swimming will therefore not see the Tokyo Games…