BEIJING, March 19 -- The Chinese swimming national team lifted the ban on Olympic champion Sun Yang's on Wednesday.

Sun, the first Chinese man to win an Olympic swimming gold with his victories in the 400 and 1,500-meter freestyle at the London Games, was suspended from training and competing indefinitely last November after he was given seven days of detention as punishment for driving without a license.

Sun was suspended from all the competitions and training by the Chinese swimming team last November after he was caught driving without a license in a car accident in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province. He was banned by the Zhejiang College of Sports as well as the national team.

The college lifted Sun's ban earlier Wednesday and asked the national team to let the swimmer back to training.

"The national team welcomes Sun," said Shang Xiutang, deputy head of the Chinese Swimming Administrative Center (CSAC). "We always hope he can realize his mistake and come back. We hope he can do better in the future."

The London Olympic champion has been going through a hard time after taking surgery of paronychia earlier this year. He has been out of systematic training for a long time and struggled with finding his form. It's still unknown whether he can take part in the National Championships in May.

Sun has come to Beijing for rehabilitation training since Feb. 20.

"Sun need time to be back in form," Shang said.