Outside Noise

The musings of an American coach over the impossibility of a young Chinese Olympian being capable of out-swimming her competitors were couched in professional language, and overlaid with the kind of cynicism that masks an underhanded intention.  Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen has now brought another gold medal in recognition of her rare athletic talent and determination to China's growing record in the 2012 London games.

This remarkably talented young woman, at just sixteen years of age, doubtless has a decade of intensive training behind her.  Her latent talent recognized at an early age, she was without doubt taken into the rarefied world of Chinese instruction to produce a world champion.  And that is precisely what has occurred.  Her outstanding performances leave her competitors gawking with disbelief, their coaches discommoded with the seeming ease of her performance.

And so, that grudging, grouchy bit of introspection erupted from the mind of an American coaching professional who simply found it too difficult to absorb that inherent talent, meticulous training and self-confidence could result in the kind of performance that Ye Shiwen treated the watching world to, when she made her first controversial gold swimming win.

And then did it again.  To gracefully and gratefully accept another gold medal, illustrating her unparalleled swimming proficiency and illuminating her ability to elicit pride in the performance abilities of young Chinese athletes.  Ye was clocked in 2:07.57, but just as she did on Saturday she unleashed a bullet kick in the freestyle leg, the portion of her races that seems to be generating the most controversy.


The musing of her being doped simply didn't hold water; she passed the doping tests with flying colours.  A Chinese coach returned the compliment and mused about the possibility that world champion Olympian Michael Phelps who once again swept the men's swimming golds, being doped as the only explanation for his spectacular prowess and wins on behalf of the United States.  Touche.

As for Ye Shiwen - her victory in the 200-metre individual medley resulting in her second gold of the Games after her world-record win in the 400-metre IM - she is complacent about her win, assuring her supporters and detractors alike that she fought hard for her winning status.  Her final freestyle leg that gave her last-minute traction represents her personal style, not the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

She has never, throughout her young career, tested positive for drugs.  Former Olympian and chair of London's organizing committee, Sebastian Roe, cautioned the skeptics: "You need to look back through her career.  I think you've got to be very careful when you make judgements like that but, yes, it is an extraordinary breakthrough."

The Chinese media, proud of the spectacular achievements of their competition-ready Olympians feel understandably miffed that their athletes receive such close scrutiny.  "I think it is not proper to single Chinese swimmers out once they produce good results", huffed Jiang Zhixue, in charge of anti-doping for the state sports administration, in interview with Xinhua.  "We never questioned Michael Phelps when he bagged eight gold medals in Beijing".

Right on.  And Ye, when asked directly if she had ever used performance-enhancing drugs?  "Absolutely not.  It is a bit unfair to me but I was not affected by it" [the controversy].  "I want to thank my team mates, my coaches and my parents, who make me strong - that's why I'm not affected by outside noise."

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