Give Sun Yang critics a gold for hypocrisy
- The issue of drugs in sport is too serious to be clouded by personal feuds. They only serve the interests of crooked chemists and drug pushers
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is a perilous issue for finger pointing. One reason is that chemists continually develop new products to stay a step ahead of efforts by the authorities to maintain a level playing field with in- and out-of-competition testing regimes. Another is that because regulation of dietary supplements is relatively lax, athletes and authorities must be alert to the risk they could be tainted, with online outlets in particular selling products containing performance-enhancing drugs, illegal stimulants and other dubious additives.
Given these factors, there is an obvious risk of appearing hypocritical in taking the high moral ground. A high-profile case in point concerns Chinese swimming champion Sun Yang. Compatriots who idolise him as a national hero are up in arms on social media over two slights. One is his treatment by Australian and British swimmers who snubbed him during medal presentation ceremonies after wins at the recent world championships in South Korea, and the other is criticism by Australian rival Mack Horton and others of world swimming body Fina for allowing Sun to compete.
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In 2014, Sun served a three-month ban for taking a recently banned in-competition stimulant for what he said was a heart condition. Anyone can find him guilty or the victim of an innocent mistake. In a recent controversy involving the smashing of vials of his blood-test samples, he remains entitled to the presumption of innocence. A Fina panel supported Sun’s claim that samples should not have been taken because the official concerned did not have the correct accreditation. The World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing against his exoneration to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
There remains a question of why Sun gave blood in the absence of proper accreditation, but there is no question about the hypocrisy of the Australian criticism. It was exposed by news of a positive test for the banned substance Ligandrol returned by 20-year-old Australian freestyler Shayna Jack, who was quietly sent home before the world championships. To his silver medal for coming second to Sun in the 400m freestyle, Horton can now add gold for hypocrisy. The issue of drugs in sport is too serious to be clouded by personal feuds. They only serve the interests of crooked chemists and drug pushers.
