Mack Horton’s bow rival Sun Yang has been curiously banned for eight years for cheating on OVERTURNED drugs after Chinese swimmer discovers ‘racist tweets’
- Chinese eight-year-old swimming ban Sun Yang has been overturned
- The 29-year-old was found guilty of refusing to cooperate with sample collectors
- But he has challenged the ruling by the World Anti-Doping Organization
- A complaint to the chair of the CAS panel appears to have been ruled by a ruling
- Chairman Franco Frattini previously posted astronomy against China on Twitter
Sun Yang’s eight-year-old swimmer was banned from Sun Yang just after months after being handed over.
The 29-year-old was found guilty by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in February of refusing to cooperate with sample collectors during a visit to his home in 2018.
Famous Australian swimmer Mack Horton refused to share a podium with Yang at the World Championships in South Korea in July 2019 – sadly he could still compete despite false accusations.
But Yang has now challenged the ruling by the World Anti-Doping Agency, allowing him to reiterate his case at a second CAS hearing before the July 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The ruling was apparently brought against a complaint from Sun lawyers to CAS panel chairman Franco Frattini because he had previously posted anti-Chinese sentiments on Twitter.
The World Anti-Doping Agency says a Swiss court has suspended an eight-year ban against Chinese swimmer Sun Yang
Sun Yang (left) and Mack Horton (center) after the 400m Freestyle Final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Read one tweet about animal cruelty from April 23, 2019: ‘Those sad (sic) Chinese are so ashamed of man !! For the way they torture animals they deserve the evil every day! And the Chinese authorities accept and encourage it. ‘
Another tweet in 2018 said: ‘Hell forever for those Chinese sadic (sic) bastards who brutally killed dogs and cats in Yulin, given the plight of the Chinese authorities. ‘
WADA has ordered the Court of Arbitration to rule the case a second time but by different judges.
A lawsuit between Sun and Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister, was one of the most moving moments in a 10-hour CAS hearing in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 2019.
The hearing ended with Sun surprising his own legal team by shaking his arms and calling another interpreter from the public seats to better convey his final statement.
‘Who is this man?’ asked Frattini curiously. ‘It is not for you to appear before the court. There are some rules. ‘
The couple’s long-running feud began ahead of the Rio Olympics in 2016 when Horton named the Chinese swimmer a ‘drug cheater’ (Horton is pictured with his partner Ella Walter)
Yang (center) was banned in February for eight years for breaking anti-doping rules
Horton and Sun’s long-running controversy began ahead of the Olympics in Rio in 2016 when Horton named the Chinese swimmer as a ‘drug cheat’.
In an interview with Sunday Night last year, Horton said athletes need to stand up for clean sports.
Speaking about breaking vials, Horton said: ‘I wouldn’t do what he did. I don’t think many athletes would do what he did ‘.
Horton said his view of Sun was not personal but reflected the standards that athletes are expected to meet.
‘Not at all [personal]. This is not a Australian Australia affair. This is not China against the world, ‘Horton explained.
‘This is a principle and the way the sport is governed and controlled.’
As a result of Horton’s complaint, the swimmer was bombed with abuse and death threats from Sun’s fan base on social media.
On Wednesday, WADA said in a statement that they had been informed of a decision by the Swiss Federal Tribunal to uphold an appeal by Yang and set aside the original ruling in February.
‘The decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal upholds a challenge against the chair of the CAS Panel and without commenting on the meaning of this case,’ WADA said in the statement.