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Ye Shiwen won the Women's 400 individual medley, setting a new world record. What makes her performance questionable is that she recorded a split time of 58.68 seconds in the final 100-metre of freestyle. She was quicker than Ryan Lochte (USA), who won the men’s 400-metre individual medley.Â
Though she has denied doping charges, it is hard to believe that a 16-year-old-girl could post a faster time than one of America's top male swimmers.
Then, there's the men's gymnastic team that had a disastrous preliminary round Saturday; then came back to perform almost flawlessly Monday night to win the men's gymnastics team competition.
China had a far from perfect start in the qualifying round Saturday. But on Monday, China performed flawlessly, winning the second straight gold, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
No doubt, ignoring the allegations, China will continue to dominate the London Olympics with Ye’s record-breaking performances. China has the ability to grab all eight golds in diving and may dominate shooting, badminton, weight lifting, gymnastics, and table tennis.
The IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) eye abrupt improvement in performance with suspicion and given China’s history, there’s little doubt the agencies will keep track of the athletes’ on and off-field activities. In the 1990s, 40 Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned substances and they were subsequently banned.
Many Chinese experts attribute the improved performance to traditional Chinese herbs which are anabolic substances, but definitely, at least according to the Chinese, not anabolic steroids. Both the anti-doping agencies will have a tough time detecting the presence of the herbs.
The IOC may have its way even if it fails in detecting anything illegal in the Chinese athletes – by coming with a new rule that prohibits the use of unknown anabolic substances.
Unfortunately, it won't do any good in these olympics.
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