The triple Chinese Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang won an important victory seven months before the Tokyo Olympics, after having the Swiss justice annul his eight-year suspension for violation of anti-doping regulations.
Now a race against time begins with the Tokyo Games, starting on July 23, in the spotlight.
In a statement, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) indicated that it would "immediately resume the process" against the swimmer, but the timetable is uncertain.
The Federal Court, the highest judicial body in the Central European country, which does not judge on the merits, pointed to the racist tweets against China by the president of the judges, the Italian
Franco Frattini
, in 2018. The CAS, which indicated that these personal tweets "They do not represent the opinion of the CAS", he will now have to find a replacement for the former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Lausanne-based supreme court for sport "regrets very much that the objections against the President of the Training were not raised before and that they could not be examined during the proceedings before the CAS" which took place long after offensive tweets.
The hearing took place in November 2019 in public, an exceptional measure.
Spectacular suspension
This suspension was one of the most spectacular decisions of the TAS, due to its severity and the size of the swimmer, a superstar in his country.
At the London Games he became the first Chinese Olympic swimming champion. Sun Yang's appeal to civil justice against an "unfair" decision was his last resort.
For its part, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was "willing to resubmit its case to a different group of TAS experts in due course."
Crowned in the London Games in 2012 (400 and 1,500 meters) and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 (200 m), the impressive Chinese swimmer, 1.98 meters high, also has eleven world champion titles in his record.
In February, when it announced its suspension, the TAS did not annul the titles obtained by the athlete after this problematic control, specifically the gold medals of 200 and 400 meters freestyle in the World Cups in Gwangju (South Korea) in July 2019, because it just did not test positive in any doping control.
Already suspended
The 29-year-old swimmer was already suspended for three months in 2014 for testing positive for a stimulant (trimetazidine).
In the greatest secrecy, since it was only made public once its sanction had been largely fulfilled.
His lawyer,
Zhang Qihuai
, who confirmed to AFP that he had received notification of the Swiss court's decision, had announced his client's intention to take legal action against an inspector who, according to him, had delivered "false evidence" in a release.
He also accused the AMA of having "falsified the facts and abused its power."
During the hearing before the CAS, the swimmer argued that the controllers had not "shown documents proving their identity", something that was not taken into account.
Following an appeal from WADA
For CAS, Sun Yang did not give at any time "a valid explanation for destroying his sample" and it was not "for him to decide on his own that an anti-doping control should be invalidated and a sample destroyed."
Sun's suspension had been supported by many athletes, including Australian
Mark Horton
, who refused to shake his hand and take the podium in the 400-meter freestyle in Gwangju.
Britain's Duncan Scott, bronze in 200m, also refused to shake hands with the Hangzhou (east China) born.
The case of the destruction of the sample came to the TAS after an appeal by the AMA on previous decisions of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), which had released Sun Yang of guilt, arguing defects of form.
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