Sun Yang reacts in a file photo taken on July 28, 2012, during the London Olympic Games. [Photo/Xinhua]

A commentary in Swimming World Magazine, a US publication, appeals for leniency on Sun Yang, a two-time Olympic swimming champion who has been suspended from the national team after being detained for driving without a license.

Pamela Roberts wrote in her article, Don't Forget, These Athletes Are Human Beings, that "He's a 21-year-old college student. He did not steal the car, he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and no one was harmed... I do find the competition ban a little too harsh for a crime that most would file away as stupidity of a college student." (Click here to see the article)?

The article was posted on Chinese micro-blogging site Sina Weibo and forwarded 21,114 times.