"You’re looking at it twice – you’re a fool. I believe that you’re disrespecting the sport, you’re disrespecting yourself and you’re disrespecting your country." Former English Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies asked whether FINA was fit to run the sport and said Horton and Duncan Scott, the Scotsman who backed Horton's podium protest with one of his own, were due apologies. At the time, they were met with FINA threats. "Are FINA fit to govern swimming after this cover-up," Davies wrote on social media. "Swimmers lost medals at last years World champs that should be re issued & apologies given to Scott & Horton."

Sun told Chinese state news service Xinhua that he would appeal to the ban to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which would represent his final port of call. "This is unfair. I firmly believe in my innocence," Sun was quoted as saying. "I will definitely appeal to let more people know the truth." The ban is a bombshell result which ends a tumultuous career that saw Sun win three Olympic gold medals and sparked a bitter rivalry with Australia's Mack Horton. Sun is China's most popular athlete - a genuine megastar to his millions of fans - and the reaction will be substantial from the Olympic heavyweight nation. General Secretary of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Matthieu Reeb, delivers the verdict in the case of Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. Credit:AP In the ruling, CAS said Sun tampered with the sample, which carries an eight-year penalty, and he "failed to establish that he had a compelling justification to destroy the sample collection containers". But given subsequent tests were negative and FINA did not give him a provisional ban, his results until Friday's finding will all stand, meaning he will retain his World Championship gold medals.

WADA released a statement saying they welcomed the ruling and that they were now satisfied 'justice had been rendered'. "The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomes the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in relation to WADA’s appeal against the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) disciplinary panel decision in relation to an incident that led to a doping control involving Chinese swimmer Sun Yang not being completed as planned," WADA said. Loading "WADA had lodged the appeal on the basis that Sun Yang voluntarily refused to submit to sample collection as per the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and the related International Standard for Testing and Investigations. WADA notes the sanction handed down by CAS and is satisfied that justice in this case has been rendered." ASADA chief David Sharp said it was a verdict that may help restore some confidence in the global anti-doping machinery.

"ASADA welcomes the CAS decision as it restores faith in the anti-doping system. We hold our athletes to the highest possible standards and we expect that those standards are upheld globally," Sharp said. Horton has refused to buy into the matter but in a statement said: "My stance has always been for clean sport. It is not, and never will be about individuals or nations. Today’s outcome does not change my stance." The verdict will also shine a light on FINA's handling of the matter, which was widely criticised ahead of the World Championships and after full details of the aborted test had came to light. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video

Sun has at times trained in Australia under Denis Cotterell, who also coached Grant Hackett to his Olympic golds. Cotterell did not respond to requests for comment on Friday night. The ban is a full stop on a career that mixed brilliance and drama. He was an undoubted champion in the pool but the stench of anti-doping concerns was never far away. In 2014, Sun tested positive for trimetazidine, a stimulant he said he was taking for a heart condition. The drug had only recently been added to the WADA list of prohibited substances. Mack Horton kept his distance from Sun Yang during the medal presentation at the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships, Credit:AAP Instead of a two-year ban, Sun was sidelined by China's anti-doping agency for just three months, a ban which was only announced after it had been served and just before another golden run at the 2014 Asian Games and Chinese national championships. That heightened suspicion among his fellow swimmers, while his mannerisms in and around the pool deck made him less than popular with rivals. That came to a head before the finals of the 400m in Rio, when Horton called Sun a 'drug cheat' then went on to win gold, citing it as a win for the 'good guys'.

Horton was swamped by abuse from Sun's millions of Chinese fans but refused to back down. It would be just the start of a simmering feud that would go to even great levels three years later in the wake of Sun's dramatic incident with drug testers in September of 2018. Loading After questioning the validity of the the officials charged with taking blood and urine samples during an out-of-competition test at his home, Sun's mother was alleged to have ordered security guards to destroy a vial of Sun's blood with a hammer. No sample was taken for testing and a FINA doping panel would controversially let Sun off with a warning and not a ban. Soon after the matter was made public in the media, WADA appealed the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and have now got their man. That matter was still waiting to be heard when Sun appeared at the FINA World Championships in South Korea in 2019. It created a storm of protest among vocal swimmers and Horton took the lead once again, refusing to share a podium with Sun after the 400m freestyle final.