Double Olympic medallist Daniel Wiffen says he wanted the 1500m world record of disgraced Chinese swimmer Sun Yang wiped from the history books.
American Bobby Finke set a new record of 14:30.67 in Sunday’s Olympic 1500m freestyle final to break Sun’s previous world mark of 14:31.02 which he set at London 2012. Wiffen finished third in the final two days ago to add a bronze medal to the 800m freestyle gold he won last Tuesday.
Sun was banned for eight years by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2020 after smashing vials of blood during a doping test two years previously. He got the ban reduced after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the ban remained in place for four years and three months. In 2014, he was banned for three months for a separate doping offence.
Sun’s record from 2012 stood until two days ago.
“I think everybody wanted it done, the whole swimming community wanted it gone,” Wiffen said after taking part in the parade of champions at the Trocadero yesterday. “I mean it speaks for itself. It’s set by Sun Yang, I mean it’s not really… I mean, the guy doped. People want it gone because they want the records to look clean.
“I wanted it gone personally because I want to see the sport progress. I think it’s shown a lot of growth because everyone was getting so close and so close every time. I know Bobby only brought it down by 0.2 but it is still progression. And and my goal obviously next season is to re-break it and make that sub-14:30.”
Wiffen says a clean sport is huge to him.
“100 per cent. Sport has to be clean to make it fair and everybody is a role model on that. Everybody wants to be on a level playing field and that’s exactly what I want.
“I said it publicly so many times – that I am probably drug tested more than anybody and this competition was the same. I’m actually very happy because this was the first competition I have been to where they drug-tested every single medallist, which is pretty unreal. I think that’s great to move on the sport and it will be great if they keep it up.”
The China doping scandal has hung over swimming at these Olympics. They finished with a haul of 12 medals, including two gold, at La Defense Arena. It was reported in April that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. After China won the men’s 4x100m medley relay race on Sunday night, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty questioned it, saying: “There’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair”.
How did Wiffen feel about the presence of Chinese swimmers in Paris?
“Didn’t bother me. I mean, they’re all getting tested the same as everybody else and that whole story is gone now. They have shown it with their drugs test and that’s it. They have swam fast and I’m sure it was great for their nation to show that they are a clean nation.”