Swiss Court: Dog Meat Tweets by Arbitrator Led to Sun Yang Appeal Success

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

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The Swiss Court that overturned Chinese swimmer Sun Yang’s eight-year doping ban cited potential anti-Chinese bias by an arbitrator in its decision, according to a press release Friday.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgericht) in December overturned Sun’s eight-year ban for doping, which had been upheld in February by the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Sun appealed that decision to the Swiss court, citing tweets from 2018 and 2019 by Italian arbitrator Franco Frattini that Sun alleged showed an anti-Chinese bias. The full Bundesgericht decision is available here (pdf).

The Bundesgericht’s reasoning covers two aspects. First, it determined that Sun’s appeal presented new information raised “immediately upon becoming known,” fulfilling a statutory requirement.

Second, the court agreed with the validity of Sun’s claims that “the contested circumstances give rise to the appearance of partiality.” At issue were since-deleted tweets from Frattini, a former VP/Commissioner of the European Union whose work has been on more than just sports, about animal cruelty. Specifically, Sun’s case cited tweets in which Frattini’s “choice of words and the repeated use of violent expressions is problematic.”

The posts discussed the Chinese practice of dog slaughter, the consumption of dog meat at traditional festivals in the country and referred to “the skin colour of certain Chinese people he targets.” The remarks came after Frattini was appointed to the arbitration panel hearing Sun’s case.

“In view of all the relevant circumstances, the Federal Supreme Court therefore considered that the doubts as to the impartiality of the arbitrator were objectively justified,” the court explained. “The CAS will therefore have to render a new award in a different composition of the panel in the doping case against Sun Yang.”

Sun was charged by the World Anti-Doping Agency for tampering with an anti-doping sample, including arguments with anti-doping officers and destroying a test sample in 2018. After initially being warned by a FINA Doping Panel in 2019, WADA imposed the far stiffer penalty, which was upheld by CAS.

Until the case is heard again, Sun is eligible to return to competition, including, potentially, for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Sun is the reigning Olympic champion in the 200 freestyle and won gold in the 400 free and 1,500 at the 2012 London Games. He added a silver in the 400 in Rio. Tokyo will include the addition of the 800 free for the men, in which Sun won World Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015, among 11 individual Worlds golds.

Swimming World’s coverage of Sun Yang & FINA Vs WADA At the Court of Arbitration for Sport

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