Ye Shiwen brushes off doping claims again
LONDON - The Associated Press
Ye Shiwen. AP Photo
Two finals, two golds. And all anybody wants to know about Chinese teen swimming sensation Ye Shiwen is whether she’s doping.After shattering the world record in the 400 individual medley on the opening day of the pool competition at the London Games, the 16-year-old broke her own Olympic record to take the 200-meter Individual Medley title on July 31.
Ye flashed smiles toward the crowd and sang her national anthem, then walked into a packed and hostile press conference where she faced one question after another over whether she is taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Ye is smaller than most swimmers at her level but has never failed a drug test, and Olympic organizers spent much of the day defending her, saying the suspicions were “crazy” and motivated by jealousy.
“Of course, I think this is a little bit unfair for me, but I was not affected by that,” Ye said in comments translated from Mandarin.
Asked directly whether she had ever doped, she said: “Absolutely not.” She added that she has trained two and a half hours every morning and two and a half hours each afternoon for nine years.
It has paid off in London.
