Ye Shiwen:Gold Medalist "Clean"

adapted from a series of BBC stories 


16-year old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen, who stunned the world when she broke the world record for the women's 400 individual medley  by more than a second, won her gold medal because of her talent, not  through cheating  says the head of the British Olympic Organization. 

Lord Colin Moynihan said Ye, 16, along with the 100 other members of her team, had successfully passed tests for performance enhancing drugs, was "clean" and deserved recognition for her talent.

Allegations of Doping 

The 16 year old gold medal winner became an instant sensation and the center of a storm of controversy with her phenomenal victory in the pool on day two of the Olympics. Shiwen swam the race in four minutes 28.43 seconds, beating her own personal best by 5 seconds and swimming even  faster in the last 50 metres than Ryan Lochte the gold medal winner of the men' s 400 meter  individual medley. .

Shortly after the race, Leonard a senior U.S. swimming coach and executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association said that her performance was "disturbing" and  hinted that doping had been involved. 

Leonard said the performance reminded him of the East German women swimmers in the 1980s, who were doping on a systematic basis.

Shiwen  strongly denied all allegations of cheating. 

"My results come from hard work and training and I would never use any banned drugs. The Chinese people have clean hands," she said.

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

In addition to receiving support from former swimmers and other Olympic champions, thousands of people all over the world used the Internet to tell Shiwen they believed in her and considered her a star and a champion. 

Accusations against Ye have resulted in an angry reaction from Chinese Internet users who have accused other nations of jealousy. Thousands of Asians posted comments on Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter and Facebook stating that they thought the west was jealous and was trying to persecute Shiwen in particular and China in general. 

London Olympic Committee: Yi Shiwen "Clean, Talented "

Chinese Presenter Backs Chinese Simmer Ye Shiwen

If you want to read more about  Ye Shiwin go to  Profile of Swimmer Ye Shiwin

For more information on the controversy

• China Angry About Doping Allegations (video) 

• Netizens leap to Ye's defence

• Can Teen Athletes Improve Dramatically?