Sun Yang ban: Netizens react to ‘career ending’ CAS sanction
- Fans defend swimmer and point fingers, while others think halved suspension is fair result as news clocks up billions of reads
- Triple Olympic champion has still not posted but journalist shares message from him saying he is aiming for Paris Olympics
New topics related to Sun’s ban, which was reduced to just over half of the original eight years that CAS awarded after his first hearing before it was quashed on appeal, racked up more than a billion combined views online.
The “Sun Yang 8-year ban reduced to 4 years and 3 months” hashtag racked up 810 million reads by Thursday morning, while “Sun Yang has been banned for four years” was read 360 million times.
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China’s swim star Sun Yang to miss Tokyo Olympics despite doping-ban reduction
These topics also sparked hundreds of thousands of discussions on Weibo and even more “likes” on the related posts, although there was mixed reaction to Sun’s ban from social media users from commenters on online sports platform Sina Sports and their fellow Weibo users.
“CAS and Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] are gradually losing their neutrality and falling into service for the shameless country in the decline of the West!” wrote one user in Guangzhou.
“No way, the power of sanctions is in the hands of Western countries,” added another in Fuzhou, Fujian province.
“The result of this trial is still acceptable. I hope Sun Yang can learn from the lesson in the future and make no more mistakes,” said one in Taizhou, Jiangsu province.
01:35
Chinese swimmer Sun Yang gets 8-year ban for doping offences
Many pledged their eternal support for Sun, who has won 14 of China’s 18 individual medals at world championships.
“Quite Sun Yang! We must fight the evil and come back in 4 years. Regardless of their achievements, slap them on their faces first!” wrote a user in Zhejiang province.
Sun has still not said anything to his 33 million Weibo followers. His last post was at Lunar New Year, posting pictures of him playing golf and practising archery: “On the first day of the new year, use sports to start the new year of the Ox! Good mountain, good scene, good mood.”
He has not posted anything on the CAS hearing since the original verdict was handed down on February 28 last year.
However, Beijing-based sports blogger Yang Wang said that she had received two messages from the swimmer with her Weibo post widely shared and reported in Chinese media.
“Thank you, teacher Yang. Actually, I have been in a particularly good state recently and I am very confident,” said one message. “I think I will end up in Paris,” said the other, pointing to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which begin after Sun’s ban expires.
Sun’s lawyer, Zhang Qihuai, of the Beijing-based Lanpeng law firm, also posted on his Weibo, pointing fingers at those in power in a lengthy post that reaffirmed his client’s “innocence”.
“Unfortunately for China and even the world, such an excellent athlete has fallen into the hands of international organisations manipulated by some people,” he said.
