Originally posted by F l i c k e r
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But the American swimming coaches are condemning her and in the media.
Why?
Sour grapes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...n-Leonard.html
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 other splits at the rate that she did, which was quite ordinary for elite competition, and then unleash a historic anomaly, it is just not right. I have heard commentators saying 'well she is 16, and at that age amazing things happen’. Well yes, but not that amazing, I am sorry.”
Blatant accusation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...-shiwen-record
Others, including former British Olympic gold medallist swimmers Duncan Goodhew and Adrian Moorhouse, have attacked those comments as destructive and as smacking of sour grapes. In the shadow of the row is a girl who should have been revelling in her moment of glory and focusing on her next race.
Her pink microblog page is a typical teenager's, with cutesy pictures and a snap of her cuddling a puppy. She enjoys cross stitch – a bafflingly popular hobby among Chinese girls – as well as watching TV and reading detective novels.
In her last message to her 200,000 followers, written not long after that spectacular performance, she observed modestly: "The first day's competition is finished. The score is satisfactory. Tomorrow, I still have the 200m and will continue to strive. Thank you for your support."
http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2...ing-400-medley
LONDON -- Olympic organizers and swimming's governing body leapt to the defense of China's world record-breaking teen sensation Ye Shiwen on Tuesday, with the sport's president saying suspicions that she doped were "crazy" and motivated by jealousy and the IOC stressing its confidence in the drug-testing program.
"We need to get real here," said International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams. "These are the world's best athletes competing at the very highest level. We've seen all sorts of records broken already all over the place."
Adams said the top five athletes in each event, plus two others, are tested as part of "a very, very strong drug-testing program, and we are very confident if there are cheats we will catch them."
Sour Grapes
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