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A detailed review of the CAS Panel’s decision in WADA v Sun Yang & FINA

Swimmer Underwater
Thursday, 05 March 2020 By Jack Anderson

In a decision first announced[1] on 28 February 2020 the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed that Sun Yang would be banned from competitive swimming for eight years. His swimming future now rests largely on one final avenue of appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal. 

On 4 March, CAS released the Panel’s full, reasoned decision, a copy of which is available here[2]. This article reviews the decision and analyses its potential implications.  Specifically, it looks at:

  • The reasoned decision
    • The conduct of the sample collection personnel
    • Sun Yang’s intention to interfere and reliance on entourage
  • Sanction
  • Comment
    • Appeal to Swiss Federal Tribunal
    • Lessons for FINA

For background reading on the facts and the legal arguments made at the hearing, please see this article by the author: A detailed analysis of the legal arguments in WADA v Sun Yang & FINA - a very public hearing[3].

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Written by

Jack Anderson

Jack Anderson

Jack Anderson is Special Counsel (Integrity Regulation) at Racing Victoria. Formerly Professor and Director of Sports Law Studies at the University of Melbourne, he has published extensively on sports law, most recently with D Thorpe, A Buti, P Jonson & J Anderson, Sports Law (4th ed, OUP, 2022).

He is a member of World Athletics’ Disciplinary Tribunal, the integrity unit of the International Hockey Federation, and the International Tennis Federation’s Ethics Commission. Jack is an arbitrator on Football Australia’s National Dispute Resolution Chamber, the National Sports Tribunal of Australia and Sport Resolutions UK.

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