China's most decorated ever swimmer has made a winning return to the pool after serving a controversial four-year drugs ban.
Sun Yang won gold in the men's 400m freestyle at China's National Summer Swimming Championships. He later broke down when speaking to reporters in the city of Hefei.
Sun was suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in 2020 for refusing to provide samples for testers who had visited his home.
He had been previously vilified by many in China as a drugs cheat, but his return was praised across state media.
It comes shortly after a highly publicised anti-doping row at the Paris Olympics this summer, in which China said its athletes were being unfairly targeted.
In a tearful poolside interview with reporters, 32-year-old Sun thanked those close to him for helping him get back to competing.
“This is really because of the reliance and support from my family -- that's what's kept me going until today", he told the South China Morning Post.
In 2012, Sun became China's first ever male swimmer to win an Olympic gold when he came first in the 400m and 1,500m freestyle races in London. Four years, he followed this up with another gold in the 200m freestyle at the Rio Olympics.
But his career came crashing down when anti-doping officials visited his home in 2018 for an out-of-competition test.
Sun and his team said the testers lacked the proper accreditation and refused to co-operate with them.
According to the testing team, a member of Sun’s entourage smashed a vial of his blood with a hammer to prevent them from departing with the sample.
Sun - who had already been suspended for three months in 2014 for using the banned substance Trimetazidine (TMZ) - denied any wrongdoing and he was initially cleared by swimming's governing body Fina.
Two years later, however, CAS overturned the decision and ruled that Sun had refused to cooperate with the sample testers. He was given an eight-year ban, which was later reduced to four years and three months on appeal.
As he had never technically tested positive for any banned substances, Sun was allowed to keep all of his medals.
His victory on Sunday was widely hailed in Chinese state media outlets, whose posts on social channels were flooded with positive comments.
“Brother Sun, don’t cry. The past four years haven’t been easy. You’re amazing,” said one user on Weibo.
Another said: "Congratulations to Sun Yang. Four years and three months of determination and perseverance have all been worth it and have led to this moment. Looking forward to Los Angeles."
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