Olympic Glory

[GoktimusPrime]

Ever heard of Marion Jones or Michael Johnson? These were favorites and expected winners. Marion enjoyed the victories but admitted later she was taking the "clear". Even these cheated.

Just because they cheated doesn't automatically mean that Shiwen Ye has cheated. If evidence crops up later that shows she's cheated, then the IOC will strip her of her medals and then fine, we can call her a cheat. But what I'm saying is that she deserves the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Cos atm the only "evidence" that people seem to have is "she's too good to be clean."

Also... she's 16... she's a _kid_. How would you feel if you were a clean athlete and got accused of cheating for being too good?

Having some unknown beat her personal record by 7 seconds in the olympics is just somewhat suspect. To be considered faster than a man, it's definitely possible but unlikely. That's why we separate the men from the women. If man and women were physically equal, then we'd only have one event instead of two.

The only reason why people can't accept this is because she wasn't on the radar of contenders. If people knew about her before the olympics, this would be a non-issue even "if" she was cheating.

She's only recently become known to the world media, but she's not completely unknown in swimming circles. She's been training in Brisbane under Australian coach Ken Wood and she swam the fastest time in the 200m IM and 2nd fastest in the 400m IM at the 2010 Asian Games. She also beat both the American Ariana Kukors and Stephanie Rice at last year's World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. Ye has won 15 medals in the past 2 years so far, 12 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.

Also, the comparison between Shiwen Ye and Ryan Lochte is kinda retarded because it was taken out of context; when examined in context, Ye's fastest time is still 23 seconds slower than Lochte's, and she also had to swim a lot harder to reach the finish, whereas Lochte had a far more comfortable lead (reference). Anything can look bad when taken out of context.

Only time will tell when a whistle blower or she herself admits if there's truth to these allegations or not.

She's already stated that the allegations are untrue, saying that her results come from "hard work and training." She's also passed every drug test thrown at her. What more do people want? A witch hunt?

"It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
- Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia

I hope that Ye is clean, but surely 7 seconds is more than "olympic hype" can bring. Saying that, she is only very young and has the perfect body shape for a swimmer, from the underwater shots she looks like a seal. Her power to weight ratio would be enormous, so her very smooth technique just glides her across the water.

Ian Thorpe has come out in support of Ye, saying that when he was her age (15 to 16) he also improved his personal best in 400m freestyle. Ye has also experienced a growth spurt since her performance in the 2010 Asian Games -- growing from 160cm to 172cm (only 3cm short of the average height of an Australian man, making her pretty tall for an Asian girl). Former British swimmer Adrian Moorhouse has said that he experienced a similar growth spurt when he was 17 which significantly improved his swimming.

Why Teen Athletes Can Make Big Improvements

China's drug addled past, and constant stories of ex Chinese medicos and trainers talking about rampant drug use in beginning athletes in dubious media circles keep fuelling these fires.

I know, but it kinda sucks how Ye - a kid - has to suffer because of her country's shady past. Some of the Chinese athletes in the 1992 games were suspected of using steroids, and some of them failed their doping tests and were caught out.

Criminals get to enjoy the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law. It'd be nice if this kid could also enjoy the presumption of innocence in her sport.