Denis Cotterell alongside Sun Yang at the 2012 London Olympics - Lee Jin-man / AP / SIPA

Australian Denis Cotterell, who has coached swimmer Sun Yang for more than a decade, broke ties with the Chinese icon after his eight-year suspension for doping, he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph . Considered one of the best coaches in the world, Denis Cotterell has been working with the triple Olympic champion since 2008 and has long defended his protégé against suspicions of doping.

"Everything makes me say that he is not doped," says the coach of Sun Yang via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/RbcIiPu548

- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) July 26, 2019

However, the Chinese swimmer was fined eight years in late February, the heaviest penalty he faced before the Arbitration Tribunal for Sport (CAS), for the destruction with hammer of a sample during a unannounced doping control dating from September 2018.

Denis Cotterell told the Sydney daily that he is now "retired". "I have put an end to my contract with the Chinese swimming federation," he told the Daily Telegraph , according to his remarks reported in the Sunday edition.

Triple Olympic champion (400m and 1500m in 2012, 200m in 2016) and eleven times world champion between 2011 and 2019, Sun Yang, 28, announced that he would appeal against this "unfair" suspension to his eyes. Proceedings before the Swiss Federal Court are the last card he has.

Asked if he supported the swimmer in his appeal, Denis Cotterell replied: "No". Sun Yang had already been suspended for three months for a positive control of a stimulant (trimetazidine) in 2014. In the greatest secrecy, since it was only made public once its sanction was largely served.

Sport

Suspension of Sun Yang: "We all knew he was a dirty swimmer", responds Chad Le Clos

  • China
  • Swimming
  • Doping
  • Sport