The Official Olympic Thread

[Kenneth]

China's 16-year-old swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, after smashing a world record at the London Olympics.

Ms Ye won gold in the 400m individual medley after breaking her personal best by at least five seconds.

She swam the last 50m quicker than the men's champion, prompting leading US coach John Leonard to describe her performance as "disturbing".

There is no evidence against her and all medal winners are drug-tested.

Does anyone doubt that china, and probably other nations are cheating like **** in the name of national pride?

[Reece]

It was early.

[Alex]

Does anyone doubt that china, and probably other nations are cheating like **** in the name of national pride?

Yeah I do doubt it. These people put in huge efforts, and to be wrongly accused of something like that is horrible. Maybe she is just brilliant.

[Kenneth]

Yeah I do doubt it. These people put in huge efforts, and to be wrongly accused of something like that is horrible. Maybe she is just brilliant.

everyone there puts in huge efforts. No way is there so much natural variation in the potential abilities of human bodies. The motivation is there, no doubt the means are too. And its not as if there isn't history also.

[Shaggy]

I watched Ye Shiwen swim in a semi last night and she was brilliant, although it is normal to improve your PB in big chunks at that age.

The fact she swam a quicker split 50m than Ryan Lochte, though, is surely dodgy.

[ChesterDave]

Apparently her time was 23 seconds slower than Lochte despite managing to swim one 50m split faster

This 16 year old girl is 10 stone and 5 foot 7.

[Chazza]

Fencing Meltdown: Olympic Officials Booed
A South Korean fencer refuses to leave the stage after a controversial decision by the referee.

Officials at the semi-finals of the women's epee fencing were booed by spectators after a controversial decision left a South Korean athlete weeping and refusing to leave the stage.

Shin Lam was one second away from winning against reigning Olympic gold medallist Britta Heidemann of Germany.

But the Austrian referee allowed no fewer than three quick bouts in the final second - on the last of which, with the time reset from zero to one second, Heidemann snatched victory.

Faced with a furious reaction from South Korea's coach, officials at the Excel Centre conferred for 25 minutes, while Shin and Heidemann waited on the stage.

Finally they backed the referee's original decision to award the semi-final - and a guaranteed gold or silver medal - to the 29-year-old German.

While a jubilant Heidemann left the stage, Shin - weeping uncontrollably - stayed where she was for 45 minutes as her team lodged a written complaint. Leaving the stage would have signified her acceptance of the result.

Audience members slow-clapped their frustration at the length of time officials were taking to resolve the dispute, as the 25-year-old South Korean sat with her head in her hands or wandered disconsolately on the stage.

When the appeal was rejected, confirming Heidemann's win, Shin still had to be persuaded to leave the stage.

She returned several minutes later to an ovation from spectators to contest the bronze medal match against world number one Sun Yujie.

The referee and his assistants were booed and jeered by the crowd as they were introduced.

Shin took the lead in the match, to the crowd's delight, but eventually lost, Sun taking bronze.

Heidemann subsequently won silver, losing out in the final to Ukraine's Yana Shemyakina.

http://news.sky.com/story/966970/fencing-meltdown-olympic-officials-booed

[ChesterDave]

This US Swimming coach sounds like he could be out of a job if she passes her doping tests.

Accusations that the Chinese are using genetic manipulatin? Ridiculous really.

[ChesterDave]

http://news.sky.com/story/966970/fen...fficials-booed

Thats the one I thought the BBC unfairly called a sulk. Seems a damn good reason to protest if you ask me.

[cannotmakeit]

Australian swimming legend and BBC analyst Ian Thorpe adds his view to the Ye Shiwen controversy: "How we should talk about it is that we should take away the nationality. If we had an athlete from Team GB who dropped three seconds we would say 'Wow'. I took five seconds off my time in the 400m freestyle from 15-16. We have to remember young swimmers can take off chunks of time others can't. We should wait. This is what I don't like in sport, when people are successful people say it is because of drugs."

[Kenneth]

Australian swimming legend and BBC analyst Ian Thorpe adds his view to the Ye Shiwen controversy: "How we should talk about it is that we should take away the nationality. If we had an athlete from Team GB who dropped three seconds we would say 'Wow'. I took five seconds off my time in the 400m freestyle from 15-16. We have to remember young swimmers can take off chunks of time others can't. We should wait. This is what I don't like in sport, when people are successful people say it is because of drugs."

Possibly. But then nationality is relevant when you're talking about a history with a track record of doping it's swimmers.

And yes, it's unfortunate that people think of doping when people achieve spectacular things, but often it is because of drugs. Can't expect any different.

Personally, I suspect that drug taking is far more prevalent than anyone cares to admit. If a kid has been doping since the age of 5 or 6, there's no need for positive tests in competition 10 years later. The job has already been done

[Alex]

Nationality is never relevant. Dwain Chambers cheated. Should all the GB athletes be under suspicion?

[Kenneth]

Nonsense. Yes, anyone sharing the same coaching setup should be looked at closely. You seem very niave and not very knowledgeable about the past.

[cannotmakeit]

Maybe they have been doping all their lives and it really doesn't matter now.

Then again it's not like she is an overnight sensation from nowhere. She won gold at the world championships last year and she has since as it looks now improved even more. whether she cheated or not, i am sure the drug test she has taken will tell us soon.

But what about the 15-year-old from Lithuania taking the gold medal in the womens 100m breaststroke? It seems because she trains in Britain no-one has questioned her. Surely people should because she is from the eastern bloc which also have dubious records on doping. There is a lot of cynicism in the world.

[ChesterDave]

But if an American athlete breaks an athletics record it won't be suspicion despite all their doping bans - it will be a great achievement.