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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: What do you think of Ye Shiwen's incredible 50m split time?
Is she innocent until proven guilty, or should we let the accusations fly?
Well considering 100% of medalists are drug tested, additionally she was one of the favourites having already come second in this years world's then hearty congratulations are in order.
Some quotes on the topic:
London 2012's head of anti-doping Jonathan Harris confirmed: "Enhancements in performance is something we focus on so we target those athletes."
British Olympic Association chairman Lord Moynihan also hit out at those who had raised suspicions about Ye, who has denied doping.
He said: "We know how on top of the game Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) are and Wada have passed her as clean. That's the end of the story.
I think it reflects very poorly on those who make such accusations without a shred of evidence. It just sounds like sour grapes and as has been said, innocent until proven guilty is the LEAST we can offer.
Now cue certain posters accusing me of being a wumao!
Well said, there are a lot of sour grapes flying around at the moment. By the way, what's a wumao?
Hugh.G.Rection:
Some on here believe that there are Chinese government paid posters defending everything about China and that they are paid 5 mao a post, (therefore wumao).
I have been accused of being a wumao in the past. In my opinion some people on this site cannot tolerate people having an opinion that does not match their own and so make these accusations to defend their belief that their opinion is that of the majority.
Agree
if she cheated it will come out
but until then and if it ever should happen
let her have her glory and pride
after all she got to the Games and we sit back and watch
Facts are facts. Seven Chinese swimmers were caught doping in 1994. Three years ago a 17 year old Chinese female swimmer was caught doping. Why is it so riduculous to think they'd do it again? Not saying that it happened this time but it's certainly not wrong to have some suspicion. Not to mention she swam a faster 50 meters than Ryan Lochte. I am definitely interested in seeing those test results
Hugh.G.Rection:
Ryan Lochte ALWAYS swims a slow last 50, those are his usual tactics, check his history.
OK lets look at Ye Shiwen's statistics a little closer shall we?
1. She beat her personal best by 5 seconds.
So what? Ye Shiwen is very young and still growing.
She's 12cm taller than she was two years ago, when she was 14, and so you would expect her times to improve.
The Australian swimming legend, Ian Thorpe, said this week that he beat his personal best by five seconds when he was a teenager.
Sport scientists say that during a teenage growth spurt, there is a release of hormones that can suddenly increase the powers of endurance.
2. She 'smashed' the world record
Ye set a new world record time of four minutes 28.43 seconds, beating the previous mark by more than a second.
But to take the case of Stephanie Rice, she beat the world record by a wider margin back in 2008.
It's impressive but it's not that remarkable.
3. She swam faster than Ryan Lochte
Lochte was 23 seconds faster than Ye overall. She only swam faster than him in the final stage - freestyle.
The comparison with Lochte just isn't that telling. It's not the first time that Lochte has been slower than a woman over the last leg of that race. In Beijing in 2008 when he won bronze, he was slower than the Italian Alessia Fillipi - by more than half a second - and she only came fifth in her own race.
Lochte simply paced himself over the race very differently to Ye Shiwen.
Dr Ross Tucker from the Sports Science Institute at the University of Cape Town warns against reading too much into the comparison with Lochte.
"Lochte didn't swim [the last leg] as fast as some of the other men in that same race. Ye's performance compared to the best men for that leg was maybe not that impressive," he says.
Tucker points out that Rebecca Adlington swam faster than both Lochte and Ye in the final leg of the 800m freestyle at the world championships last year.
Full story from the BBC here :
On one hand, I'm hopeful that she's just a seriously talented teenager. On the other hand, there's no telling if she took steroids during her training leading up to the Olympics. Drug tests can't detect stuff that was taken after a certain time period.
Also, many dope users have gotten past the drug tests. It happens quite often. One needs only look at that East German swimmer in the 80's who was pumped up with so much drugs she was almost another species and swam faster than any person ever before. She came clean years later and her records were expunged.
Hugh.G.Rection:
You could make the same accusation about any athlete in the Olympics, Michael Phelps, ANYONE. Every nation has had athletes in the past who have used drugs, just because some people from a nation have used drugs it is totally crap logic that it therefore means EVERY athlete from that nation has used drugs ever since!
Baseless, unproven accusations just sound like sour grapes and poor losers. Also this is the 21st Century WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) have many ways of checking well into the training regime not just at a major competition.
beaufortninja:
Sour grapes or not, it's a known fact that China has supported the use of steroids in its athletes for the last 20-30 years. They can't run from their history. Suspicion is warranted when a 16 year old girl suddenly and inexplicable beats her previous record that was set just a few months before by 5 or 7 seconds. It's unheard of.
I think what is more incredible is how China won medals in swimming as most chinese I know cannot swim.