Update: Swiss Court Lifts Doping Ban on Champion Chinese Olympic Swimmer Sun Yang

A Swiss federal court has lifted the eight-year doping ban on Chinese Olympic champion Sun Yang, potentially clearing the way for the swimmer to compete in the delayed Tokyo Olympics next year.

The case will be returned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel after an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, according to a Wednesday statement released by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

“The Swiss Federal Tribunal’s decision upholds a challenge against the Chair of the CAS Panel and makes no comment on the substance of this case,” WADA said in its statement.

The controversial three-time Olympic winner was accused of a doping violation and banned from competition for eight years by CAS in February. Sun later filed an appeal to the Swiss court in April.

The ban was overturned after Sun’s lawyers provided evidence to the Swiss court about allegedly discriminatory comments posted on social media by the head of the CAS arbitration panel, Jude Franco Frattini.

An initial review of Frattini’s posts on Twitter showed they criticized dog slaughtering in China’s southwestern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in 2018, and animal abuses in 2019. The posts allegedly contain racist comments.

Yang Yang, vice president of WADA, said during an interview with China’s national broadcaster, CCTV, that the case will return to CAS for hearing, and there will be a new arbitration panel chair for the proceedings.

WADA said in a statement that it “will take steps to present its case robustly again when the matter returns to the CAS Panel, which will be chaired by a different president.”

The Swiss Federal Tribunal and CAS have not yet issued statements about the overturning of the ban. Sun’s lawyers are currently not reachable for comment.

The case began in September 2018, when Sun refused to give a blood sample and his security guard, instructed by his mother, smashed vials and containers, as evidence showed at the 2019 CAS hearing.

The controversial 29-year-old swimmer was first put on a three-month suspension in 2014 after a banned substance, which he said was used for heart treatment, was discovered in samples he gave.

Contact editor Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com)

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