Coach Cotterell slams Sun critics as 鈥榟ypocrites鈥
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Sun Yang鈥檚 coach Denis Cotterell has defended the Chinese Olympic champion from doping accusations and labeled criticism from the Australian team鈥檚 swimmers as 鈥渉ypocritical.鈥
Rivals have shunned Sun at the world championships in Gwangju, with Briton Duncan Scott snubbing him at the 200-meter freestyle medal ceremony days after Australian Mack Horton refused to share a podium with him after the 400m.
Triple Olympic champion Sun was cleared of a doping offense in January but the World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing the case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Australian Cotterell, who has worked on and off with Sun for 11 years, said the implication that he would coach a drug cheat was an 鈥渋nsult.鈥
鈥淚f you think for a second I would be doing that with someone that is a cheat, then people don鈥檛 know me,鈥 Cotterell told The Australian daily yesterday.
鈥淲hat is the definition of a drug cheat? Someone who has failed a test? By that definition, they have got drug cheats on the Australian team.
鈥淚 have been on teams where people have failed a drug test, accidentally and through no fault of their own. I would never call them cheats. It seems to be very hypocritical.鈥
Sun was banned for three months in 2014 after failing a drug test. Sun said he was taking medication for a heart condition and had not deliberately doped. WADA reviewed the case and decided not to appeal the sanction.
The latest case involves an aborted out-of-competition test last year in which Sun was alleged to have refused to cooperate with testers.
A report of the FINA Doping Panel hearing leaked to an Australian newspaper backed Sun鈥檚 claim that the testers did not have proper accreditation and he was within his rights to refuse the test. Cotterell backed Sun鈥檚 actions during the aborted test.
鈥淎fter hundreds and hundreds of tests you know the protocol,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 follow it and all those facts are there. If things aren鈥檛 right are you just going to give up your blood to strangers who don鈥檛 have credentials?鈥
Sun was free to swim in Gwangju pending the CAS hearing of the WADA appeal in September and he won a fourth straight 400m gold and retained his 200m title.
Scott鈥檚 refusal to shake hands with Sun at the 200m medals ceremony and join him for photos drew an angry response from the 11-time world champion, who confronted the Briton as they exited. With Horton having repeatedly made clear his position that Sun is a 鈥渄rug cheat鈥 since the Rio Olympics, Cotterell said it was natural for Sun鈥檚 frustrations to spill over.
鈥淚t is starting to get to Sun Yang. He is an emotional guy.
鈥淗ow many times can you get insulted? It would be better if he could ignore the whole kerfuffle, but it builds and he is human.鈥
China鈥檚 head swim coach Zhou Jihong has also hit back at the protests. 鈥淚t is unbelievable and unacceptable that some people publicly defiled the innocence of an elite athlete based on speculation and hearsay,鈥 Zhou told Chinese media on Wednesday.
鈥淚t shows prejudice and irrationality. It is of great harm to the sport and the athlete.鈥
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