According to a report by Xin’an Evening News, Dawan News of Anhui Province, on the evening of August 19th, the hashtags #SunYangReturns and #SunYangBackOnTheStage trended on social media. On the morning of August 20th, an insider from the Anhui Provincial Sports Bureau told Dawan News reporters, “We just received a call from the General Administration of Sport of China, confirming that Sun Yang will come to Hefei.” It is said that Sun Yang will be participating in the National Summer Swimming Championships held in Hefei as part of the Zhejiang team.
The report noted that Sun Yang’s official fan group forwarded information about the sale of tickets for the 2024 National Summer Swimming Championships. The event will take place in Hefei, Anhui Province, from August 25th to August 28th, 2024. With the news of Sun Yang’s return to the stage, his fans were thrilled, saying things like “I’ll buy the tickets once it’s confirmed,” “See you at the venue, Sun Yang,” “It doesn’t matter about the results; just getting into the water surpasses many others, and his career has already been brilliant enough”…
On May 28th of this year, Sun Yang completed his four-year and three-month suspension, marking the reopening of his competitive swimming career. On that day, Sun Yang’s studio posted, “Exceeding oneself, swimmers are fearless.” Despite turning 33 years old by the end of this year, Sun Yang still maintains a passion for the pool. In a previous interview with domestic media, when asked about returning, he said, “When I received the final arbitration result in 2020, I made up my mind that four years later, I would definitely return and not choose to retire.” Sun Yang explained that due to his love for swimming, he wanted to continue. Although no longer young, he still wished to compete as a swimmer, and the decision to return was also a way of giving himself closure.
Moreover, the media mentioned that Sun Yang has a deep connection with Anhui. Sun Yang’s ancestral home is Huainan, Anhui. His father, Sun Quanhong, was once an athlete on the Anhui Provincial Sports Team’s volleyball team, and his mother, Yang Ming, was also a skilled volleyball player. Sun Yang inherited his parents’ athletic talent and grew tall from a young age. By chance, Sun Yang developed a liking for swimming. In 1998, he entered the Hangzhou Sports Team for training, thus embarking on his swimming journey.
Finally, the media expressed that choosing Hefei for his comeback match, Sun Yang will appear before his hometown audience after a long absence from the stage. An insider from the Anhui Provincial Sports Bureau stated that the arrival of the star also significantly increased security pressure at the venue, “The General Administration of Sport of China specifically emphasized that we should enhance security measures.”