Chinese Olympic swimmer Sun Yang might have lost out on a chance to take home the gold medal for the 1,500-metre men's freestyle, but he's still a golden boy in the eyes of the Chinese people.

After failing to make the finals of the competition that Sun previously dominated in -- and even called himself a "king" at -- due to a cold, the swimmer flew back home to China on Monday disappointed. But it looks as though Sun managed to redeem himself after an unplanned babysitting gig went viral on Weibo.

During his flight home, Sun encountered a Chinese woman and her young nephew called Lucas. According to the Weibo post, the woman apparently had no clue who Sun was and Lucas immediately hit it off with the nice "uncle" who played and took care of him throughout the flight.

At one point, Sun even offered to change seats to accompany Lucas while his auntie slept.

The pictures were posted onto Weibo by the woman's daughter who said she can't believe her mother's and nephew's luck or that they had no idea they were rubbing shoulders with celebrity-athletes.

The post also contained pictures of Lucas fooling around at the departure gate and in the background was none other than another Chinese swimmer, Ning Zetao a.k.a. China's "national husband."

Sun's Rio Olympics journey has been shrouded in controversy following remarks made by Australian swimmer, Mackenzie "Mack" Horton, labelling him a "drug cheat." The comment is in relation to Sun's doping scandal back in 2014 after he tested positive for a banned stimulant.