CAS Retrial of Chinese Star Sun Yang Will Take Place Next Week

Sun Yang - Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

CAS Retrial of Chinese Star Sun Yang Will Take Place Next Week

The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced on Tuesday that it will hold the retrial of China’s Sun Yang next week, with May 25-27 slated for the private hearing, which will be conducted by video link. Sun was originally found guilty of violating anti-doping rules and given an eight-year ban, but the Olympic-champion freestyler appealed the verdict to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

The Swiss court ruled that a member of the three-person CAS panel, Franco Frattini, made biased comments on social media and sent the case back to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for retrial. Two months shy of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Sun’s case will be heard by a new three-member panel. If Sun is found not guilty of violations, he will be eligible to defend his Olympic title later this summer. If the retrial results in a guilty verdict, Sun’s career will be all but over.

The case stems from an out-of-competition test in September 2018 in which Sun got into arguments with testers and accused them of not having the proper credentials to conduct testing. During the late-night dispute, a vial of Sun’s blood was smashed with a hammer by a member of Sun’s team.

Sun’s initial trial was a one-day affair that was open to the public. The second hearing will undoubtedly be followed closely by the swimming world, particularly athletes who have spoken out against Sun and in favor of clean sport, such as Australian Mack Horton and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott.

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