China’s Sun Yang swims in his men’s 200m freestyle heat at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon
Olympic and world champion swimmer Sun Yang served a three-month ban earlier this year after testing positive for a banned stimulant, China’s anti-doping agency disclosed yesterday.
Sun tested positive for trimetazidine in a test conducted on May 17 during China’s national swimming championships in Hangzhou.
The suspension began immediately and ended on Aug. 17, prior to Sun’s appearance in September at the Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea, where he won three gold medals.
Amid criticism on social media, the agency was forced to defend its delay in announcing Sun’s test and sanction, saying it was for no other reason than a backlog of cases.
The agency’s director, Zhao Jian, told The Associated Press the ban was announced as part of a periodic release of testing results and disciplinary measures. He said Sun’s support team and team doctor were also given penalties, which he didn’t specify.
Zhou said Sun’s status as a world-famous athlete required authorities to handle his case with greater caution to ensure no mistakes were made.
“This is huge bad news but we will not cover it up,” Zhao said, in comments later carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. “We usually report the violations quarterly or bi-quarterly and we have to wait until the handling of a particular case has been finished.”
The need to handle almost 10,000 tests over a six-month period also slowed the process, Zhao said, “That’s why we did not release the reports for the second and third quarters until now.”
Zhao said Sun waived his right to have his “B’’ sample tested, but defended himself at a July hearing by saying it was an ingredient in medication he was taking to treat a heart condition and he wasn’t aware it was banned. Under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, an athlete can be permitted a therapeutic exemption if a substance is needed for medical reasons and is declared in advance to authorities.
Trimetazidine was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances in January. AP
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