Doping & Drugs ·
A Court Ruling Did Not Lift Sun Yingjie’s Doping Ban
Reports said a former training partner admitted putting androsterone in the runner’s juice. Athletics authorities retained her two-year sanction.
After Sun Yingjie tested positive for androsterone at China’s 2005 National Games, she took a former training partner to court, accusing him of putting the banned substance in her drink. Chinese media reported that Yu Haijiang admitted doing so and that a court declared Sun innocent of doping. The sporting penalty nevertheless remained: two years out of competition and the loss of her 10,000-metre silver medal.
Sun’s positive sample was collected on October 17, after she finished second in the 10,000 metres. A day earlier, she had won the Beijing international marathon; her pre-race blood test and post-race urine test were negative, according to BBC Sport.
Sun, a bronze medallist in the 5,000 metres at the 2003 World Championships, responded to the positive test with a specific allegation about a bottle of kiwi juice. Rediff, citing the Beijing Times, reported that she sued Yu, a runner with whom she had trained, and accused him of putting the substance in the juice.
The same account said Yu admitted in a court in Heilongjiang province that he had sprinkled the substance into Sun’s drink. He reportedly said that he had intended to help her and had not known it was banned. “I just wanted to help Sun Yingjie because she is my idol,” Xinhua quoted him as telling the court.
Domestic media reported the ruling in Sun’s favor in December. The Chinese athletics authorities initially said they were reviewing her case but had not lifted the ban. “No matter the reason, the conclusion that Sun Yingjie’s A and B samples were positive for androsterone has not changed,” anti-doping official Zhang Yongliang said.
In January 2006, the International Association of Athletics Federations recorded the sanction imposed by the Chinese association: ineligibility from October 20, 2005, through October 19, 2007, and disqualification of all results from October 17, 2005. Shen Chunde, an official at the State Administration of Sport’s Athletics Management Centre, put the authorities’ position plainly: “Under international anti-doping rules, athletes are responsible for what is in their bodies, and the fact that Sun Yingjie used steroids has not changed.”