July 31, 2012

expert reaction to astonishment at performance of Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen in the women’s 400m medley

Sixteen year-old chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen swam the Olympic women’s 400m medley in record time, beating the fastest men over the last 100m and leading to accusations of doping by American coaches.

Prof John Brewer, Board Member of UK Anti-Doping and Director of Sport at the University of Bedfordshire, said:

“The drug testing procedures in place at the London 2012 Olympics are extremely rigorous and the storage of samples for 8 years after the Games makes doping an very high risk strategy. We should not be surprised by exceptional performances since Gold medal winning athletes are inevitably different to the rest of us due to their talent, training and lifestyles.

“It’s also worth remembering that China has a vast pool of talent to choose from due to the size of its population, so we should not be too surprised when an individual with exceptional talent emerges.”