“I hope to be able to choose a sport as soon as possible and get back to the starting line,” the 32-year-old told state media in an interview.
Sun's return comes as Chinese swimmers are under intense scrutiny after it was revealed WADA allowed 23 Chinese swimmers to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics despite them testing positive for banned substances.
The agency accepted the Chinese explanation that the athletes had unknowingly ingested the substance through meals at the hotel.
Son's return comes too late to compete in this summer's Paris Olympics, but he has indicated he has his eye on longer-term goals.
“The Olympics is just a competition for me. The Olympics is over, and after it's over there's another Olympics,” Son said. “Since I returned to training, I've been doing mock competition tests frequently. I'm always trying to get that feeling back,” he said.
Son added that his daily routine has not changed since serving his suspension, and he continues to follow the same pattern of training, eating and then going home.
But because of the ban, he had to use the pool in his apartment rather than the Olympic pool provided for Chinese athletes.
Sun said he was at the pool so often that his parents worried about his mental state as he was “swimming non-stop.”
“I swam 7,000 to 8,000 meters in one training session,” he says, “and some days I even swam twice.”
The two-metre tall Sun was the first Chinese swimmer to win gold medals in the 400m and 1500m at the 2012 London Olympics, but has long been a controversial figure in the swimming world.
He was called a cheater by some of his rivals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and at the 2019 World Championships, two athletes refused to stand with him on the medal podium.
Sun was also suspended for three months in 2014 after testing positive for a banned substance.
“Compared to other athletes, I feel very lucky and I'm very grateful,” Son said, referring to his past achievements, which include 11 gold medals at world championships from 2011 to 2019.
He said he felt “very depressed” when he first found out he'd been suspended for a second time, but that his time away from the pool had given him the space to pursue other interests.
“in retrospect [on the past four years]”I don't think it's really a big deal,” Sun said.
“Actually, the biggest change in these four years is having a family and having another spouse,” he said of his marriage to gymnast Zhang Dudu. “These four years have added color to my life.”
