Posted on 07/31/2012 12:48:23 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
One of the world’s most senior swimming coaches has raised serious doubts about the validity of the “unbelievable” performance of Ye Shiwen, the 16-year-old Chinese swimmer.
John Leonard, the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, yesterday compared Ye’s winning performance in the women’s 400m individual medley to Irish swimmer Michelle Smith, who won gold in the same event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics but was banned from swimming for four years in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample. Smith, now De Bruin, always denied using performance enhancing drugs.
Ye sent shock waves through her sport on Saturday when she set the first swimming world record of these Olympics, and in doing so swam the final 50m freestyle faster than American swimmer Ryan Lochte managed in his final leg when he won the same race in the men’s event.
“We want to be very careful about calling it doping,” Leonard said.
“The one thing I will say is that 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. That last 100m was reminiscent of some old East German swimmers, for people who have been around a while. It was reminiscent of 400m individual medley by a young Irish woman in Atlanta.
“Any time someone has looked like superwoman in the history of our sport they have later been found guilty of doping”. Ye was more than seven seconds faster in the 400m individual medley than she had been in the equivalent race of the World Championships last year. While Leonard accepted that such improvement was feasible, he described the final 100m as “impossible”. He added: “To swim three
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I remember reading something about either MLB or NFL players training up in the mountains to boost their red blood count, and then getting transfused before key games.
Only way to catch that is blood test.
To this day I consider that to be the greatest single achievement in sports that I have EVER witnessed.
I agree with you. Just think, if the brothers and sistas weren’t afraid of the water all kinds of swimming records would fall. The Chinese girl may be the one in a billion women capable of such a feat. Those East German women were growing beards and were the obvious product of steroid use. I don’t believe that blood doping could produce such a remarkable feat by a female. Let the American coach prove it or shut up. Now he has the Chinese coach calling into question Phelp’s effort in 2008.
IOC: China's Shiwen passed drug test
I think maybe this is why the US Olympic Committee distanced themselves from Leonard's doping claim.
Anyways, either this girl is 'legit' or the Chinese have found a way to mask any performance enhancing drugs they give to their athletes.
Do you still swim for fitness? I've observed that often, competitive swimmers get so burnt out and so obsessed with making speed their top priority, that they have a difficult time enjoying swimming as a fitness regimen later in life.
Yes, they lied about their age and stuff
she was.
also the NK Women’s Soccer team is banned from international competition for doping, but allowed in this Olympics. weird.
the only reason the balco scandal happened was a sample of the substance was provided to officials. Otherwise, it would still be undetectable.
could this be why the olympic committee was pushed for sex change operation rules?
So were the rest of the best in the world. He won by 2 ft.
yitbos
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