Sun Yang is a Chinese swimmer who has won a combination of 14 Olympic medals and has won multiple championships. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed that Yang will not compete in swimming for the next eight years because he violated the rules of doping. Yang will miss the Tokyo Summer Olympics that were postponed to 2021.
In the year of 2018, an incident occurred while collecting a blood sample for a competition. Yang’s security guard had smashed the sample with a hammer. It was later confirmed in court that it was Yang’s mother’s idea to destroy the sample. WADA confirmed that Yang had voluntarily refused to submit a sample which in violation of both WADA’s and FINA’s (International Swimming Federation) rules.
Yang’s penalty is a deterrent for future swimmers, who are interested in the sport. Yang is setting a bad example for people, especially young kids who look up to him as a role model. By consuming the drug trimetazidine, cardiac metabolism increases giving you more energy and endurance.
It is unknown that it was Yang’s decision to consume these performance enhancing drugs. However, it is a known fact that coaches have large influences in pressuring an athlete to take these drugs.
Questions to consider from this case can include: Is there any enjoyment in highly competitive sports? How far are people willing to go to win?
There is always enjoyment in winning, but it usually comes with a cost. For Sun Yang, that cost was being banned from participating in competitive sports for the next eight years.
There are factors to consider when trying to achieve your ultimate goal in life such as negative influences, poor role models, and extreme pressure. Sun Yang went down the wrong path when he chose to take performance enhancing drugs.
In order to achieve something in life, you must do it with a healthy conscience, free of outside interference. Sun Yang could have been China’s best swimmer without his consumption of drugs.
Marnie M
Sport, Not Games ⚽ 