China's former Olympic gold medalist swimmer Sun Yang reiterated his desire to return to competition stronger than ever after his doping ban of more than four years ended on Tuesday.
Son, a former three-time Olympic freestyle championship gold medalist, was technically reinstated as eligible to compete in official races on May 28, completing a four-year, three-month suspension imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on February 28, 2020.
In an exclusive interview with ThePaper.cn, Sun, who turned 32 in December, said that despite the tough years, he has never given up on his competitive career and is ready to return to competitive swimming again.
“Four years ago (when my suspension was handed down), I decided I would not retire. Now I just want to get back in the pool as soon as possible and stand on the starting block again,” Son said in an interview.
Sun's controversial doping case dates back to September 2018, when a dispute with testers from IDTM, an agency hired by International Swimming Federation (FINA), over the approval of random out-of-competition drug tests at his home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, escalated into a physical confrontation.
Swimming's world governing body, World Aquatics Federation (then FINA), ruled in January 2019 that Son's refusal to cooperate was reasonable, based on the findings of an independent committee that found that IDTM inspectors had failed to provide sufficient proof of identity and authority, as Son claimed.
Two months later, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed FINA's decision to the CAS, which held an 11-hour hearing in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 2019. A three-judge panel found Son guilty and banned him for eight years in February 2020.
Switzerland's highest court overturned the ban in December that year after Sun's lawyers succeeded in an appeal challenging the neutrality of former CAS committee chairman Franco Frattini, whose social media comments were deemed to have shown anti-China bias.
At the request of the Swiss court, a second hearing was held in May 2021 overseen by a new panel of judges, which found that Sun had acted “recklessly” by refusing to allow anti-doping agency officials to leave his home with a blood sample.
Son has repeatedly maintained his innocence throughout the protracted legal battle.
He claimed he refused to cooperate after inspectors conducted the inspection without proper identification and took photographs of him without his permission during what were supposed to be confidential inspections.
The Lausanne-based CAS announced in June 2021 that it would reduce the original eight-year ban to four years and three months, citing rule changes that allow flexibility in assessing the “totality of the circumstances”.
“At the beginning (of my suspension), I suffered a lot emotionally and mentally and only had gloomy feelings. My parents were worried that I would have mental problems so they tried to fulfill all of my demands at that time,” Son confessed.
“Then, slowly and gradually, I came out of the shadows, learned to appreciate and enjoy other things in life, got married, went back to college to continue my education.
“Looking back now, I feel that I have gained more than I have lost over the past four years.
“Now I have let it all go, come to terms with what happened in the past and am ready to try again,” said Sun, who won two gold medals (400m and 1,500m freestyle) at the 2012 London Olympics and gold in the 200m at the 2016 Rio Olympics.