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On August 20, an Anhui media outlet quoted an insider from the Anhui Provincial Sports Bureau as saying that Sun Yang will participate in the National Summer Swimming Championships to be held in Hefei at the end of this month. A Beijing Daily client reporter learned from relevant Zhejiang authorities on the afternoon of August 20 that Sun Yang will indeed participate in the National Summer Swimming Championships with the Zhejiang team.

A person from the Anhui Provincial Sports Bureau told Da Wan News: "The State Sports General Administration just called and confirmed that Sun Yang will come to Hefei." The person said that the arrival of the star also increased the security pressure at the competition site, "The Sports General Administration specifically emphasized that we should improve security measures."

It is understood that the National Summer Swimming Championships will be held in Hefei from August 25 to 28. This event is a national B-level swimming event. The National Spring Swimming Championships and the National Swimming Championships are A-level events. Despite this, the National Summer Swimming Championships is still one of the highest-level and highest-standard swimming events in the country.

This time, there are 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle for men and women, as well as 100m and 200m backstroke, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 100m and 200m butterfly, and 200m and 400m individual medley events. The event notice issued by the Swimming Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China states that the eligibility for this competition is: "Athletes who have registered (including confirmation) on the National Athlete Registration Information Platform of the General Administration of Sport of China in 2024."

As the event schedule has not yet been released, Sun Yang's event is still uncertain. It is worth mentioning that this competition is one of the qualifying competitions for the 2024 National Swimming Championships (25 meters). If Sun Yang can swim the corresponding results in this event, he will be qualified to participate in the 2024 National Swimming Championships (25 meters).

The news of Sun Yang's comeback immediately sparked heated discussions among netizens and topped the Weibo hot search list on August 20. Many netizens said they were looking forward to seeing the Olympic gold medalist swim in the pool again. In addition, a reporter from Beijing Daily Client saw on the ticketing website that the National Summer Swimming Championships, which opened at 12:00 on August 20, was selling out. As of 15:00 on August 20, the 4-day pass from August 25 to August 28, the preliminaries on August 25, and the finals on August 25, 26, 27, and 28 were all sold out.

Sun Yang, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday in December this year, won the 400m freestyle and 1500m freestyle gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first Chinese male athlete to win an Olympic swimming championship. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sun Yang also won the 200m freestyle championship.

In February 2020, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Sun Yang failed to comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency's regulations and disrupted anti-doping sampling, and was banned for 8 years. Since then, Sun Yang's ban has been reduced to 4 years and 3 months, and will expire on May 28, 2024.

Sun Yang has expressed his desire to return to the swimming pool many times before. On August 11, he said in a video link: "You will definitely see me at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao National Games next year. I will also try my best to show my good side to the swimming fans who support me. It is also a way to give back to everyone who has cared about me in the past four years." Previously, he also wrote on social media: "Swimming is an inseparable part of my life. I will always stick to my love." In July this year, Sun Yang also posted photos of himself training in the swimming pool.

Source: Beijing Sports

Reporter: Li Yuanfei, Zhao Xiaosong