Olympics 2012 Chinese Swimmer Ye Shiwen Doping allegations Ian Thorpe comments

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NOTE Apologies for the very LOW volume which was due to my equipment being faulty. You will need turn your volume control to the maximum to hear properly--so sorry!

China's 16-year-old swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, after smashing a world record at the London Olympics.

Ye won gold in the 400m individual medley after breaking her personal best by at least five seconds.

She swam the last 50m quicker than the men's champion, prompting leading US coach John Leonard to describe her performance as "disturbing".

There is no evidence against her and all medal winners are drug-tested.

She is due to race in the final of the 200m individual medley later on Tuesday.

Commentators were stunned at her performance in the 400m on Saturday, and the BBC's Clare Balding said after the race that questions would be asked about how she achieved the world-record time.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says the accusations against Ye have sparked an angry reaction from Chinese internet users, who have accused other nations of jealousy.

'Clean hands'
Mr Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, said her performance reminded him of the East German women swimmers in the 1980s who were doping on a systematic basis.

"History in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I will put quotation marks around this, unbelievable, history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved," he told the UK's Guardian newspaper.

Ye denied the allegations against her, telling reporters: "My results come from hard work and training and I would never use any banned drugs. The Chinese people have clean hands."

And Chinese swimming team leader Xu Qi told China's state-run Xinhua news agency that comparisons between Ye and Lochte were meaningless.

"Ye was behind after 300m and she needed to try her best to win the race, but Lochte had already established the lead before the freestyle and didn't need to do his upmost," he said.

China's swimming team was repeatedly hit by doping scandals in the 1990s.

Seven swimmers tested positive for drugs in the 1994 Asian Games, and four years later four Chinese swimmers failed pre-tournament drug tests before swimming world championships in Australia.

Chinese officials insist they have cleaned up the sport, but earlier this year another 16-year-old swimming prodigy, Li Zhesi, failed a drug test.

'Right combinations'
Experts and former swimmers have said Ye's rapidly improved performance was not unprecedented.

Former Olympic champion Ian Thorpe told the BBC he had also improved his personal-best time by five seconds in a year during the early part of his career.

"We have to remember that young swimmers can take chunks of time off that other people can't," Thorpe said.

Biomechanics expert Andrew Cresswell said swimmers could achieve dramatic improvements by working on their strength and technique.

"Those two factors combined can lead to large increases. [Ye's performance] certainly is possible if those right combinations were improved," he told the BBC.

Arne Ljungqvist, medical commission chairman for the International Olympic Committee, called the speculation sad.

"To raise suspicion immediately when you see an extraordinary performance - to me it is against the fascination of sport," he said.

All medal winners at the Olympics are drug tested. In addition, any athlete whose performance is far better than anything they have achieved before can be targeted for extra tests.

China's anti-doping chief has said that Chinese athletes have undergone nearly 100 drugs tests since arriving in London, and that not a single Chinese athlete had tested positive

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[omgwaffles09]

holy crap turn the volume up

[GPLMaster]

Don't you just love Ian Thorpe? He's so nice, defending someone he doesn't know from lies that have not been backed up with evidence. But seriously, she's 15! Good on her! Why does her doing well have to be a bad thing.......

[westozzy]

well-explained answers given by thorpe from a neutral standpoint.

[wikct2]

Next time, everyone should point fingers and accuse at every American athlete of using drug when winning the game. That is just natural thing to do since American is so rude and used to accuse Chinese athletes baselessly and shamelessly. I think Chinese team should file complain or legal action against American irresponsible and baseless accusation that damage the reputation and emotion damage of the young Chinese swimmer.

[dfisdjnjcsjsjn]

Let me rephrase, I meant Olympians and more specifically Australian swimmers, which i'm correct in saying not a single australian swimmer has ever been caught doping, china had whole teams caught in the past. I admit there's tonnes of drugs in Australian AFL, NRL etc but that's the mentality of those sports and it doesn't surprise me. It wasn't Australia accusing her either it was America, Australian athletes and even generally the media have backed her up.

[HitMeQuick]

Read your fuckin' newspapers Bruce. There's more drugs in the NFL than in Lance Armstrong's kitchen cupboard, not to mention Aussie Rules, swimming, tennis, golf, cricket...it goes on and on mate.

[dfisdjnjcsjsjn]

wtf are you talking about? i can't think of a single major Australian athlete that's been caught for doping and it's never been a stereotype of Australian athletes to dope and if anything Australia's known for the opposite.

[Freddiewgbs]

loading wheel at 0:28 really? cut that shit out of the video that's just fucking lazy

[HitMeQuick]

What the fuck is going on with your hair?

[HitMeQuick]

Look a bit closer to home Australia you bunch of doped up fuckin' cheats.

[elamantebilingue]

I am going to play devil's advocate and ask HOW WOULD THE AMERICANS HAVE FELT IF FINGERS WERE POINTED AND SUSPICIONS RAISED ABOUT Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte & Michael Phelps? They swam multiple events and numerous races (with fast times) in the same day. Also, Missy Franklin exploded on the international scene and has the physical characteristics of former GDR swimmers.

[elamantebilingue]

Ian Thorpe is articulate and informed. He speaks objectively and from the perspective of a competitor. Great interview!