Doping - Swimming Sensation?

[scroobal]

Swimming sensation Ye Shiwen became the hottest topic in the office today. I was so fed up with all the accusatory comments that I told all the doubting Thomases that one should not simply pass judgment based on the following few frivolous facts;

1. Over 40 Chinese swimmers have been caught for doping over the years
2. Chinese team caught with enough human growth hormones for a team in Thermos flask carried by a swimmer on arrival in Australia for the Sydney Games
3. Her fellow compatriot Le Zhesi also aged 16 was busted a few months ago for doping

And Ye herself said the following “There’s absolutely no problem with doping. The Chinese team has always had a firm policy of anti-doping.”. So there you have it - only China has a firm anti-doping policy and it came straight from the horses mouth. No other country has it.

Watch this space as bio-mechanical and pacing experts get into the act.

 

[singveld]

read more articles about Ye Shiwen here
http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?116892-Summer-Olympics-2012-London&p=1159830#post1159830

 

[jiangrenhua]

To prove Mr. scroball points. You should go and say this to any PRCs you see in SGP, see if you can get a slap or beat ups from them.

I see a lot of PRC whores in Geylang.

So you must be one too!

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

She is either extremely gifted or exceptionally stupid to take performance enhancing drugs for the biggest sporting event on the planet.
How she was able to swim the last 50m of the 400 IM faster than Ryan Lochte is quite simply unbelievable.

For me, unless proven otherwise, she is an astonishing swimmer with tremendous potential.

 

[scroobal]

Neither gifted nor stupid, but got carried away by euphoria. She did something in her last lap that came to the attention of experts. If she has stuck to her usual kicking beat, she would also have got gold but not raise suspicion. It will end up as another Michelle Smith incident. Now the race is on between the anti-doping agency and they have 8 years to find a procedure to detect a new dope or identify a masking agent and Chinese Scientists who will endure a long waiting game.

She is either extremely gifted or exceptionally stupid to take performance enhancing drugs for the biggest sporting event on the planet.
How she was able to swim the last 50m of the 400 IM faster than Ryan Lochte is quite simply unbelievable.

For me, unless proven otherwise, she is an astonishing swimmer with tremendous potential.

 

[Cestbon]

All medalist will need to take urine test .

 

[Leongsam]

All medalist will need to take urine test .

Urine tests alone aren't going to uncover drug cheats you twit. Your ignorance is shocking.

 

[Cestbon]

Urine tests alone aren't going to uncover drug cheats you twit. Your ignorance is shocking.

New drug may pass the test. At least have test right u twit.

 

[longbow]

It is unfair to tint Ye Shiwen's achievement. If she passed the drug tests then she should be cheered for her win. Pretty sure IOC is doing double checks and if they cannot find anything then give it to her. Very unfair to cloud her win by saying that IOC will find something perhaps 5 to 8 years into the future.

 

[yellowarse]

This smacks of racism. When an American swimmer wins 8 gold medals in record time, an unprecendented historic feat, they call him a swimming god instead of suspecting drugs. (See how difficult it is for Lochte to take part in 6 events - he's only won one gold and one silver after 3 events.)

When a Chinese girl the world 200 IM champ wins the 400 IM in world record time, it's drugs. Only ang mohs have the right to be demigods and demigoddesses of the pool.

People who live in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones. American Jessica Hardy returned from a reduced one-year ban for steroids in 2009, and promptly smashed one world record after another. But no, she's now clean, reformed, you don't question a reformed American's achievements.

What about Jessica Fosschi? Amanda Beard? The 'great' Marion Jones who'd never tested positive had all her Olympic medals confiscated after she confessed. Sammy Sousa. Barry Bonds. And now Lance Armstrong's 7 TDF wins are in peril. The list goes on. And on.

Yes, many Chinese women swimmers were caught doping in the '90s, not because the Westerners weren't doing it but rather the Chinese weren't so good at masking the drugs. But after Sydney the Chinese cleaned up their act, and they actually have fewer positive FINA tests than the US in the past 10 years. Plus most PRC swimmers now train under Australian and US coaches - if they're taking steroids, their Western counterparts are suspect too.

So much for double standards. Good that swimmers like Park Tae Hwan and Sun Yang are showing the world that great swimming is not the sole domain of white trash nations.

 

[greedy and cunning]

Urine tests alone aren't going to uncover drug cheats you twit. Your ignorance is shocking.

you should have told us earlier. sinkies are being DUPED for so long yet they found nothing wrong with the urine tests.

 

[Leongsam]

This smacks of racism. When an American swimmer wins 8 gold medals in record time, an unprecendented historic feat, they call him a swimming god instead of suspecting drugs. (See how difficult it is for Lochte to take part in 6 events - he's only won one gold and one silver after 3 events.)

When an American produces are superb performance, I figure the chances that he's a drug cheat is 50/50

When a Chinaman/woman does the same, I figure the chances are 90/10.

You can call me whatever you want but you can't remove the stigma that's attached to sportspersons from the communist bloc as research into performance enhancing drugs are part and parcel of the state apparatus.

It has nothing to do with skin colour.

 

[singveld]

do you notice 400m IM swimming, the men came out of locker room with headphone and earphone on their head, while the woman have no headphone and earphone. why is that? woman need not relax?

 

[yellowarse]

[h=1]This NZ reporter is at least more balanced than many of his hypocritical Western counterparts.

************
Sensational swim does not a drugs cheat make[/h][h=2][/h]PHIL LUTTON

Getty Images​

RECORD BREAKER: 16-year-old Ye Shiwen smashed the 400m individual medley.

[h=2][/h]















Before you pass judgement on Ye Shiwen,
take a breath. Ingest some context. The 16-year-old Chinese phenom has astounded and confounded in the London pool but gold plus (potential) gold doesn't neccesarily add up to a drug cheat.
Almost the second after she touched first in the women's 400m IM in a world record time of 4.28.43, the Chinese whispers spread like Black Plague around the Olympic Aquatic Centre.
Stephanie Rice's 4:29.45 had been erased but it was the manner of the win, rather than just the raw numbers, that had observers rubbing their eyes in stark disbelief. Then it was the raw numbers.
BBC presenter Clare Balding wasted little time as the swimmers climbed out of the pool, asking co-presenter and former top-level swimmer Mark Foster: "How many questions will there be over somebody who can swim so much faster than she has ever swum before?"
She has been castigated by some for the line of investigation, while others praised her for simply asking what everyone else was thinking.
Ye started the final leg of the race well behind American Elizabeth Beisel. By the turn in the 50m freestyle, Ye had taken the lead and by the end, had streeted her like a greyhound bounding after a fox terrier.
When Beisel took off her goggles, she looked like a fighter waking up from a slumber after being caught with a sucker-punch. Where the hell did that come from?
The reason seemed obvious to some, perhaps even a few of the other swimmers scanning the venue with raised eyebrows.
The immense improvement in times, the supreme power and the complete domination of an elite field could lead to only one conclusion, that being that the Chinese were up to their old tricks. The fact a former squad-mate in China, Li Zhesi, tested positive for EPO in March didn't aid Ye's cause.
We're all best served to take a step back at this point. Tarring Ye with the doping brush by association isn't even close to fair.
If this was an Australian athlete, we'd be mortified by the mere suggestion and celebrating the athletic vigour of our bronzed youth. It wasn't an insinuation Rice had to deal with when she clocked her world record in 2008, which was at the time an absurdly fast result.
Earlier that year, Rice shaved a startling six seconds off her personal best time to hit 4.31.46 at the Australian trials.
American Katie Hoff reclaimed the mark a few months later before Rice countered at the Beijing Games, reducing it to below 4.30 for the first time. In contrast, people seized the fact Ye reduced her PB by five seconds to claim the new mark of 4.28.43 as clear reason for suspicion.
The sexiest line has been Ye's apples-to-apples comparison with American men's star Ryan Lochte, who humbled Michael Phelps in his gold-medal 400 IM swim on the first night of competition. The Chinese teen clocked 28.93 for her final 50m freestyle leg, compared to 29.10 for the 27-year-old Lochte.
It was a barnstormer of a swim. Headlines like: 'Faster than Lochte' flashed around the world and suddenly, a 16-year-old girl was quicker than a macho, full-grown US superman. It's juicy and accurate, to a point. But surgically removing one stat from a 400m swimming race and seizing upon it has warped perceptions and conclusion.
That freestyle leg was dazzling but Ye isn't faster than Lochte. It's not even close. Lochte's winning time in the men's 400m IM was 4.05.18, compared to Ye's 4.28.43. That's a difference of 23.25 seconds. And Lochte's lead-off relay sprint for the US men's team was 47.89, a number to which Ye couldn't get close despite being a gun freestyler.
The manner in which the races were swum adds another layer. Lochte had the race in hand by the time he turned on the freestyle leg. His other three strokes were good enough to give him a gold-medal lead and there was no clear and present danger ranging up on either side.
Ye had to hit the burners to motor past Beisel. She turned more than a body length behind and had to push with everything she had to catch the American. By the time she did that, it must have been clear a world record was within reach and she drove it home with Black Caviar authority. And in any case, four other male swimmers did beat Ye's freestyle split.
To the wider sporting world, Ye is only now becoming a notable name. Yet to swimming diehards, she has been one of the rising stars for some years, even if her surge of form in London has caught most people by surprise. Beisel and Rice had been the favourites for gold.
Ye won the 200m IM at the Asian Games in 2010 (2.09.37) and the 400m IM (4.33.79), all at age 14. At the time, she was listed at 160cm tall. Now, the official Olympic site lists her 12 cm loftier at 172cm. That sort of difference in height, length of stroke and size of hand leads to warp-speed improvement.
Ye was hand-picked for the Chinese swimming program because of her hands. Her finger-painting brush strokes at kindergarten must have been an inch wide. Whatever it was, her teacher noticed she had hands like buckets and she was soon using them to paddle up and down the pool.
If America - a nation of 300 million - can produced a Michael Phelps and Australia an Ian Thorpe, is it really so bizarre to think China - with a population of 1.3 billion and a state-run sporting program run with military precision - could haave found the female equivalent?
Ye swam in the heats of the 200 IM on Monday, clocking 2.08.90. It was the same time she set in the last World Championships, when she edged Australia's Alicia Coutts into gold. No red flags were raised on that occasion but one year later, Ye must compete under a cloud of doubt.
The world record for the 200m IM is 2.06.15, set at the infamous 2009 world titles by Ariana Kukors, wearing one of the now-outlawed techsuits. The way Ye is swimming, that record won't last long. And when it tumbles, expect the teenager to have to defend herself all over again rather than be celebrated as the next pin-up of the sport.
- FFX Aus

 

[enterprise2]

Well she certainly don't look like one of the East German girls in the past pumped full of steriods!!

 

[yellowarse]

You can call me whatever you want but you can't remove the stigma that's attached to sportspersons from the communist bloc as research into performance enhancing drugs are part and parcel of the state apparatus.

Sure. So long as China doesn't morph into a democratic capitalist state, its athletes will always be tainted by suspicions of drugs even if they may be 100% clean in reality. And athletes from democracies have less incentive to cheat because money and fame don't motivate people who preach freedom and human rights.

You forget one thing: the flip side of the communist coin is that when an authoritarian state wants to clean up their sports, they're usually much more successful in imposing and enforcing draconian measures which in Western states will be contested again and again by dream team legal eagles in courts (look at the Armstrong and Landis sagas) with ingenious excuses and exploitation of legal loopholes. Most of these athletes continue to compete and break records with while awaiting appeals and investigations. And I'm not even talking about massive cover-ups by national associations and labs using money and political influence.

The 'free' world is really not 'cleaner', just smarter.

 

[Leongsam]

This NZ reporter is at least more balanced than many of his hypocritical Western counterparts.

He's simply giving the benefit of the doubt.

Besides I don't trust the Kiwis when it comes to commenting about China. The country kisses Chinese arse on a daily basis. The economy depends upon the Chinese for survival.

When China demanded the removal of Falon-Gong advertisements (which were paid for) at Auckland International Airport, the authorities meekly complied.

 

[yellowarse]

Well she certainly don't look like one of the East German girls in the past pumped full of steriods!!

Precisely, I wanted to mention that too. She doesn't have the massive build, rock-hard musculature, body zits and facial hair of someone on 'roids, like Michelle de Bruin or Amanda Beard or the former East Germans.

 

[Leongsam]

(look at the Armstrong and Landis sagas)

When Landis made that unbelievable solo ride towards regaining the yellow jersey way back in 2006, I was pretty sure the syringes had been out the day before.

This unbelievable swim has the same odour.

Only time will tell.

Armstrong had reasons to dope... If he had ridden clean, he'd probably have been the only one in the peloton to so. He needed drugs to even out the odds.

 

[Extremist]

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