China’s Hottest Swimmer Has Been Kicked Off of the National Team

A memo from the State General Administration of Sports Management Center of Swimming was leaked on Wednesday morning.

According to Shanghaiist, it stated that Ning had been charged with three violations: failing to obey national team competition rules, refusing to participate in a relay event, and working as an unauthorized spokesman.

Chinese national athletes are prohibited from signing ad agreements without approval from their team.

The memo, dated October 18, 2016, came after the Rio Olympics which Zetao competed in.

In January, the 23-year-old Zhengzou-native signed a 10 million yuan (more than $1.4 million) sponsored deal with Adidas, a direct conflict with the team’s official sponsor, 361 Degrees.

In 2016, Ning signed a deal with Chinese dairy brand Yili, a competitor to the national swimming team’s official milk sponsor, China Mengniu Dairy. This got the swimmer nearly banned from competing in the Rio Olympics in August.

It was a good thing he made it to the summer games because not only is Ning easy on the eyes, but he is also a super fast swimmer, setting a record for the 100-meter freestyle as the first Asian man to swim the distance under 48 seconds at the world championships in Kazan, Russia, in 2015.

Sadly, Ning finished the men’s 50-meter freestyle in 30th place and 12th place in the 100-meter freestyle during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Even though he was sent back to his Chinese Navy swimming team, being removed from the national team does not necessarily mean his career is over, SwimSwam noted.

Ning is still expected to compete at the 2017 World Championships.