CAS Media Release - WADA v. Sun Yang & FINA

SUN YANG IS FOUND GUILTY OF A DOPING OFFENSE AND SANCTIONED WITH AN 8-YEAR PERIOD OF INELIGIBILITY

Lausanne, 28 February 2020 - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeal filed

by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang and the

Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA). As a consequence, Sun Yang (the Athlete) is sanctioned

with an eight-year period of ineligibility, starting on the date of the CAS award.

Following a conflictual anti-doping test at the residence of Sun Yang in September 2018 which resulted

in the testing not being completed, the matter was initially referred to the FINA Doping Panel

(FINA DP) which found that the International Standard for Testing and Investigations (ISTI), the

protocol adopted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for the conduct of doping controls, had

not been properly followed. Therefore, the FINA DP invalidated the sample collection. As a

consequence, the FINA DP determined that the athlete had not committed an anti-doping rule

violation.

WADA filed an appeal at CAS against that decision, asserting that Sun Yang had voluntarily refused

to submit to sample collection and requesting that a period of ineligibility between a minimum 2 years

and maximum 8 years be imposed on him.

The arbitration on appeal was referred to a panel of CAS arbitrators, composed of Judge Franco Frattini

(Italy), President, Mr Romano F. Subiotto QC (Belgium/UK) and Prof. Philippe Sands QC (UK),

which held a hearing on 15 November 2019. Further to the parties’ request, the hearing was conducted

in public.

The CAS Panel unanimously determined, to its comfortable satisfaction, that the Athlete violated

Article 2.5 FINA DC (Tampering with any part of Doping Control). In particular, the Panel found that

the personnel in charge of the doping control complied with all applicable requirements as set out in

the ISTI. More specifically, the Athlete failed to establish that he had a compelling justification to

destroy his sample collection containers and forego the doping control when, in his opinion, the

collection protocol was not in compliance with the ISTI. As the Panel noted, it is one thing, having

provided a blood sample, to question the accreditation of the testing personnel while keeping the intact

samples in the possession of the testing authorities; it is quite another thing, after lengthy exchanges

and warnings as to the consequences, to act in such a way that results in destroying the sample

containers, thereby eliminating any chance of testing the sample at a later stage.

Considering that, in June 2014, the Athlete was found guilty of a first anti-doping rule violation

(ADRV), the Panel concluded that, in accordance with Article 10.7.1 FINA DC, an eight-year period

of ineligibility, starting on the date of the CAS award, has to be imposed on the Athlete for this second

ADRV.

Considering 1) that FINA refrained from seeking the imposition of a provisional suspension on the

Athlete when charging him with an anti-doping rule violation, 2) that doping tests performed on the

Athlete shortly before and after the aborted doping control in September 2018 were negative, and

3) that in the absence of any evidence that the Athlete may have engaged in doping activity since

4 September 2018, including on the occasion of the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South

Korea in July 2019, the results achieved by the Athlete in the period prior to the CAS award being

issued should not be disqualified.

The Arbitral Award will be published on the CAS website in a few days, unless the parties agree that

it should remain confidential.

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