Smashed vials, fair trials? Sun Yang and procedural fairness at the Court of Arbitration for Sport

In World Anti-Doping Agency v Sun Yang & Fédération Internationale de Natation (Sun Yang), the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sanctioned China’s most successful swimmer with an eight-year period of ineligibility for intentionally interfering with a blood sample collection attempt in violation of the World Anti-Doping Code; a decision that was later partially overturned. This hearing was afflicted with translation and bias issues that undermined public confidence in the legitimacy of the award, and in CAS arbitrations more broadly. Employing the lens of global administrative law (GAL), this article assesses the extent to which the CAS hearing lacked procedural fairness. It argues that, while the hearing procedures in Sun Yang complied with CAS protocol, there is scope for reform that draws further on administrative law principles to ensure greater procedural fairness protections and improve the legitimacy of all CAS awards.