The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) says it will live-stream the Nov. 15 hearing for Chinese distance star Sun Yang over a 2018 incident with anti-doping agents.
The hearing will take place on November 15, as we reported yesterday. CAS reports that the hearing will take place in Montreaux, Switzerland at the Conference Centre of the Fairmont Le Montreaux Palace. The hearing will be the second public hearing in CAS history. CAS says it will live stream “all or parts of the hearing” on the CAS website.
You can read the full CAS release here.
Case Background
The case has been one of the bigger stories in swimming this year. Sun, the 27-year-old Chinese distance star and three-time Olympic champ, was accused of violating anti-doping rules in a testy interaction with doping control workers late on the evening of September 4, 2018.
Doping control officials arrived to perform an out-of-competition test on samples of Sun’s blood and urine. According to the Doping Panel’s decision document, Sun disputed the credentials of one of the doping control workers – the same worker who had been involved in an earlier anti-doping test in 2017. In that first 2017 test, Sun disputed the worker’s accreditation and authorization to be involved in the doping control test, and complained about the worker via the doping control form.
During the September 2018 test, Sun also said he believed that doping control worker was covertly taking photos and videos of Sun during the test. Sun ultimately disputed the worker’s credentials and refused to give urine samples. His blood sample had already been taken, and the ensuing dispute about what to do with the sample ended with the blood sample being destroyed. FINA said Sun’s bodyguard smashed the samples with a hammer while the doping control officer was on the phone, while Sun said the doping control workers told him he could remove the sample from its secure container and dispose of it.
FINA sought to sanction Sun for his actions, but an independent doping panel found that Sun had not committed an anti-doping rules violation. The panel agreed with Sun’s belief that the doping control worker was not properly accredited, and the panel also agreed with Sun’s case that the worker was surreptitiously taking photos or videos of him during the test, calling that behavior “highly improper and extremely unprofessional.”
What a time to be alive!
Why did Sun Yang say he smashed the vials? Was it in a fit of paranoia that the testers were out to get him and mess with the sample?
I mean, we all now how this is going to pan out. Sun will be represented by big shot lawyers and will win the case easily because the testers couldn’t provide the right credentials. The vials were smashed but they should never have been taken in the first place as long as the right credentials weren’t provided.
The thing is though, whatever the verdict is, WADA comes off as a complete joke either way. If it goes Suns way then the system is easily exploitable by bad apples wanting to sabotage athletes, and if it goes against him then they let a drug cheat compete for no reason. WADA is the real loser.
Perfect, I’ll have my popcorn ready.
I don’t think the hearing will happen. If they stipulate the facts of this case I think WADA will back off because it will embarass them. Would love to hear the doping control person tell us what happened in their own words.
I only hope there is PIP (picture in picture) of Yangs mother live as well.
I wonder how swimswam commenters would react to him producing substantial evidence showing innocence. My guess is with vial smashing jokes
It was also sad to see how many people attacked Sun’s coach in horribles ways after he went public to point out the other side of things. The masses have no problem in throwing someone like Denis in the trash IN A SECOND even after he gave the swimming world so much.
I’m going with “I win, you lose” jokes.