It was reported by both Global Times and China Youth Daily that Olympic and World Champion Sun Yang has started training once again.
Sun has not been training since his very public incident of driving without a license in early November. His punishment came in two forms; one by the police where he was fined and detained for 15 days and then by the provincial sporting association in Zhejiang which handed out the following consequences:
- Sun is banned from attending any domestic or international meets. (No word until when)
- He must halt any promotion or sponsorship events.
- His salary has been suspended.
- Temporarily removed from the national team roster
Last week administrators with in Chinese Swimming spoke to xinhuanet.com about a possible return to the pool, but did not give a timeline, “We need to watch Sun Yang for a period of time. If he behaves well, it may not take a long time to allow him back to training at the national team,” said Shang Xiutang, deputy head of the Chinese Swimming Administrative Center (CSAC).
“If the suspension period is too short, he won’t draw lessons from it; but if it takes too long, it won’t be good for his sporting career,” he said.
Although Shang was vague on when Sun would return to training today Zhang Yadong, vice-president of the Zhejiang College of Sports, where Sun trains, told the China Youth Daily that Sun had resumed training and that the college would not release any further information about the swimmer.
There have been reports that the ban on competition could be up to a year, but with Sun back in the pool training it is unlikely that we will see him out of competition for any great length.
It was also reported earlier this week that because of his behaviour outside of the pool Sun would not be considered for the Chinese Athlete of the Year Award which he has won the last two years (2011 and 2012), ”
“Sun Yang is an outstanding athlete but he failed to behave professionally outside the swimming pool,” said CCTV sports chief Jiang Heping.
“Most selectors on the panel decided not to accept him as a candidate.”
I’m thinking we need to get some “Free Sun Yang” shirts rocking at major meets. This man needs to be swimming and inspiring distance swimmers and freestylers both in China and around the world.
But, if the Chinese government wants to be creative, maybe they can draw strength from his need for automotive speed and get him racing cars. Forget the Duel in the Pool between the Europeans and the Americans, put Clary and Yang on a track and have them go mano-a-mano. Throw in Danica Patrick as a wildcard and media-magnet to amp up the coverage.
Harsh. One has to wonder how this will affect him. He obviously has a champion’s mentality so it probably won’t, but I wouldn’t mind too much if it does since I’m a Cochrane fan and I want him to win gold in Rio.
Extremely harsh.
China is super harsh on their own stars.