Sun Yang Wiped From Olympics History As Bobby Finke Breaks Swimming World Record | news.com.au

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, American swimmer Bobby Finke knocked Sun Yang out of the history books in an epic finish, after smashing his 1500m freestyle event record by 35 hundredths of a second.

In the space of a decade, Sun won three Olympic gold medals and became an eleven-time world champion, not to mention one of the world’s most controversial athletes.

The Olympics is no stranger to athlete misconduct scandals, with Sun the subject of a high-profile anti-doping case in 2018. World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA, cleared him of wrongdoing, but the World Anti-Doping Agency reopened the case.

Sun was barred from competing in the Paris Games after a panel of judges unanimously found him guilty of refusing to cooperate with anti-doping sample testers, handing him an eight-year ban in February 2020 that was later downgraded to four years and three months.

Sun has also had run-ins with other athletes, including Australian swimmer Mack Horton, who made global headlines after refusing to stand on a podium alongside Sun at the 2019 World Championships in South Korea.

Sun’s swimming ban recently ended, and he now says he hopes to return to competitive swimming as soon as possible.

Sun will be 36 years old when the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games comes around, so whether he can reclaim his record will have to wait until then.