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The Sunday Times reported an alleged dispute
between doping testers and the swimmer last year which the
newspaper said had resulted in damage to a sample.
China's swimming association (CSA) said an investigation by
world swimming body FINA had found the swimmer committed no
anti-doping rule violation.
The CSA said Sun had rejected an out-of-competition doping test
at his home in China on Sept. 4 last year over what the athlete
said was a lack of proof of identification by the testers.
"After FINA called up an investigation of the issue, CSA ordered
Sun Yang to fully cooperate with FINA and truly report every
detail of the affair," the CSA said in a statement to state-run
news agency Xinhua.
"According to the final decision of the FINA Doping Panel, FINA
confirms the athlete did not commit an anti-doping rule
violation."
FINA could not be immediately reached for comment, while the
World Anti-Doping Agency said it was looking into the matter.
"I can confirm that WADA is aware of this case and that we are
following up accordingly," Maggie Durand, WADA's manager of
media relations and communications said.
Sun, a triple Olympic gold medalist and world record holder, was
banned in 2014 for three months after testing positive for the
banned stimulant trimetazidine during the Chinese national
championships.
His lawyer Zhang Qihuai has threatened legal action, saying the
newspaper reported with "a malign intention" which "severely
damaged Sun Yang's reputation and violated his privacy."
"We reserve the right to file a lawsuit against the relevant
international media which reported the incident," Zhang said in
a statement to Xinhua.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and
Alexander Smith)
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