Gwangju (South Korea) (AFP)

Sun Yang is once again in turmoil: one week before the World Swimming Championships, an Australian newspaper published a report confirming that the Chinese swimmer had broken a blood sample during an unannounced check, but escaped any sanction because of a defect of form.

In this explosive report written in January and put online Saturday by the Sunday Telegraph, the doping commission of the International Swimming Federation (Fina) expresses "very strong concerns about the behavior of the athlete and his entourage" during this control , but concludes that the three-time Olympic champion and seven-time world champion did not "commit an anti-doping rule violation".

The Australian newspaper does not specify the nature of the defect of form, but Sun Yang and his lawyers assure from the beginning that the three agents of the Swedish company IDTM, in charge of doping controls carried out out of competition, would not have presented him the necessary authorizations the day of control at his home on the evening of September 4th.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) however appealed in March this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which could potentially lead to the "suspension for life" of the champion, suspended three months for doping in 2014. The sportsmen convicted of doping incur, in fact, such a penalty in the event of a repeat offense.

According to the report published by the Sunday Telegraph, Dr. Ba Zhen, the swimmer's doctor and the team from China, refused to let the inspectors take the samples, although the latter warned that this could constitute an anti-doping rule violation.

Then, according to a testimony cited in the report, "Sun's mother asked a guard to bring a hammer into the doping control room."

According to this testimony, Dr. Ba Zhen himself "proposed to break with a hammer the secure container where the blood samples were".

The Doping Control Officer heard the broken glass sound. "She discovered that the athlete and a guard had broken with a hammer one of the secure containers where the samples were," reads the report.

In anticipation of the decision of the CAS that has not yet fallen, Sun Yang can participate in the worlds of Gwangju, South Korea, July 21 to 28, to the chagrin of other swimmers.

© 2019 AFP