Advertisement
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
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
8
Sun Yang’s four-year ban has dominated the focus of Chinese internet users with the topic trending on social media giant Weibo, bringing mixed reaction and debate over whether it has ended the triple Olympic champion’s career.
Advertisement
Sun will not defend his 200m freestyle title at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer after the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned him from the pool until May 2024, a 51-month ban backdated to last February.
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.
02:09
China’s swim star Sun Yang to miss Tokyo Olympics despite doping-ban reduction
China’s swim star Sun Yang to miss Tokyo Olympics despite doping-ban reduction
Another hashtag, “Sun Yang said he did not give up training for a moment,” had 190 million reads, while “Sun Yang missed the Tokyo Olympics” had 230 million reads.
Advertisement
Advertisement