By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Chinese swimmer Sun Yang has been training in his home town of Hanzhou at the Zhejiang College of Sports during the recent outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19. The information comes via CGTN, the international arm of China’s state-run news organization.
The 28-year old Sun, an 11-time World Champion and 3-time Olympic champion, normally trains in the Chinese capital of Beijing, but has been training in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
The reason for the move away from his home training base is unclear, given that Zhejiang was put under lockdown on February 5th to limit the spread of the coronavirus. As of February 12th, there were 159 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hangzhou and a total of 1,131 in Zhejiang province.
Beijing, meanwhile, with a population that more-than-doubles that of Hangzhou, has instituted a mandatory 14-day quarantine for anybody coming into the city this week. The latest new cases and deaths of the disease have been mostly limited to Hubei province, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, though overnight Chinese authorities reported 1 new death in Beijing. Beijing has seen many fewer cases than Zhejiang has, so the reason for Sun’s move during the outbreak is unclear.
COVID-19 has spread to over 67,000 globally in more than 28 countries according to coronatracker.com, with 8,571 people confirmed to have recovered and 1,527 having died.
“I must keep training and striving for my personal goals,” Sun said. “This is a painstaking process, and it might be harder than preparing for the Asian Games or World Championships, but I always want to prove myself.”
CGTN also reports that Sun is focused on gold medals in the 200, 400, and 800 meter freestyles in Tokyo, eschewing the 1500 free that was once his best event and where he is the World Record holder. The paper also reports that he “still needs work” in the 800 free.
There has been no update yet in Sun’s ongoing doping rules violation proceeding in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where a ruling was said to be coming no sooner than “mid January.” SwimSwam reached out to the CAS this week, but have not received any response.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Sun Yang Is Training at Home in Hangzhou During COVID-19 Outbreak