HEFEI, China —Three-time Olympic champion Sun Yang won the men’s 400 metres freestyle title at the Summer Swimming Championships in Hefei, east China’s Anhui Province after returning from a four-year ban for doping.
Sun, 32, was banned from competing for four years and three months for a dope test violation in 2018 in which he and members of his entourage smashed vials containing blood samples.
The ban, reduced from the original eight years on appeal, expired on May 28. Sun missed national trials for the Paris Games due to suspension.
The Chinese swimmer, representing Zhejiang province, won his race in a time of three minutes and 49.58 seconds.
Sun was the first Chinese male swimmer to win Olympic gold, in the 400m and 1500m freestyle at the 2012 London Games, but has long been a controversial figure in the pool.
“I could have done better,” he said after the final according to Reuters.
“Four years away from competition, and without intensive training, I do feel rusty in controlling the tempo and I need more competitions.
“But it’s a good start for my comeback and I’m happy with this result.”
In June 2021, a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel announced that Sun committed anti-doping rule violations “when an unsuccessful attempt was made to collect blood and urine samples from him at his residence on September 4-5, 2018.”
The judgement added: “The panel concluded that a period of ineligibility of four years and three months (i.e. 51 months) commencing on February 28, 2020, is to be imposed on Sun Yang.”
Sun, who also served a three-month suspension in 2014 for taking trimetazidine (TMZ), which he said was to treat a heart condition, won Olympic gold in the 400 and 1,500 freestyle at London 2012 and took the 200 title at Rio four years later.
China’s swimming team was under intense scrutiny during the Olympic Games in Paris over the country’s doping record. China secured 12 medals in swimming at the Games, including two golds.
Several elite Chinese swimmers, including Fei Liwei and Zhang Zhanshuo who represented China at the Paris Olympics in men’s 400 meters freestyle, skipped the national summer swimming championships for vacations after Olympics.
According to the national anti-doping management regulations enforced in 2021, Sun is unlikely to be included in future Chinese swimming squads at international competitions as any athletes who have been banned for more than one year due to a doping violation are not eligible to be selected for the national team.
Chen Xinyi, a female swimmer who was able to achieve a top-five performance in national swimming events, has not participated in any international competitions since serving a two-year ban after testing positive for banned substances at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The national summer swimming championships, running from Sunday to Wednesday, has attracted 499 athletes from 24 teams nationwide.
