MELBOURNE • Sun Yang's coach, Denis Cotterell, has ended his 13-year association with the Chinese swim king following the Olympic triple-gold medallist's eight-year ban for breaching anti-doping rules, Australian media reported yesterday.

"I have terminated my contract with (the) Chinese Swimming Association," he said in comments published by News Limited.

Cotterell also confirmed that he would not back Sun's appeal to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court as he seeks to overturn the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping agency on Feb 28.

Swimming body Fina had previously cleared the 28-year-old of wrongdoing for his conduct during a September 2018 out-of-competition test at his Hangzhou home, when members of his entourage destroyed vials containing samples of his blood.

Australian Cotterell had defended his charge after his first three-month ban for doping in 2014, and labelled his critics as "hypocrites" at the world championships in Gwangju, South Korea, last year.

The event saw rival swimmers, notably Australian Mack Horton and Britain's Duncan Scott, refuse to share the medal podium or shake hands with Sun.

"If you think for a second I would be (coaching) someone that's a cheat, then people don't know me. That's an insult," Cotterell said then. "What's the definition of a drug cheat? Someone who has failed a test?

"By that definition, they have got drug cheats on the Australian team. I 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."

Sun is the reigning world and Olympic champion in 200m freestyle, but his participation at the upcoming Tokyo Games is now in serious doubt.

While Sun has maintained his innocence, claiming last week he had retained a lawyer to support his appeal, no date has been set for that hearing.

REUTERS