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David Gray / Reuters
China's Ye Shiwen poses with her gold medal on the podium during the women's 400m individual medley victory ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Center on Saturday.
BEIJING – On the heels of her second gold medal performance, China’s state media have come to the defense of Chinese swimmer, Ye Shiwen, ending their relative silence on the doping allegations that have plagued the young female swimmer since her recording-breaking performance last weekend.
On Saturday night, the 16-year-old Ye demolished the world record in the 400 individual medley, coming from behind to win gold in 4:28.43. Besides swimming that race nearly seven seconds faster than her winning performance at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai last year, she also incredibly outpaced American gold medalist Ryan Lochte’s final 50 in the men’s race by a split-second.
Lochte won the 400 medley with the second-fastest time in history.
Ye’s dominant performance raised eyebrows among some swimming experts, including John Leonard, the head of the American Swimming Coaches Association who openly questioned the legitimacy of Ye’s victory.
“History in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I put quotation marks around this, ‘unbelievable,’ history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved,” Leonard was quoted as saying.
Questions were renewed Tuesday after Ye won again, this time breaking her own Olympic record in the 200 IM. The win made Ye the first two-time gold medal winner in Chinese swimming history.
It also made her a target for pointed questions regarding her impressive performances so far.
By all accounts, Tuesday’s press conference for Ye Shiwen following her 200 IM victory was inundated with questions regarding doping and performance-enhancing drugs.
However, for the Chinese press corps yesterday, the story was not so much Ye’s answers – as the media’s questions.
After a remarkably fast performance in the women's 400-meter individual medley, gold medal winner Ye Shiwen generated controversy. NBC's Chris Jansing reports.
Chinese outrage
One Chinese account of the press conference noted angrily that toward the end, one Western reporter directly asked Ye, “I’d like to ask you if you doped to win that gold medal. Please answer me directly with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”
According to the report, Ye looked the reporter directly in the eye and shot back, “Absolutely no! Why am I the only one who is suspected of cheating when other foreign athletes also win multiple gold medals?”
The tone of the reporter’s question led to complaints from the furious Chinese press, many of whom felt professional and etiquette boundaries were breached.
“A 16-year-old genius not only can't enjoy her victory, but also has to be subjected to this ‘interrogation,’” one Chinese journalist reportedly said. “As Chinese journalists, we have the right to protest."
One person who did protest was Ye’s father, Ye Qingsong, who told a local Chinese news website here that, "The Western media have always been arrogant, and suspicious of Chinese people."
State media: a ‘deep bias’ by Western media
China’s state media have largely stayed quiet on the subject of doping, only mentioning in passing in some reports the accusations and Ye’s dismissal of them.
But following the press conference, the media stepped up to defend Ye.
China’s reliably nationalist newspaper, Global Times, chimed in with an editorial Wednesday that said negative comments about Ye were rooted in a “deep bias and reluctance from the Western press to see Chinese people making breakthroughs.”
“If Ye were an American, the tone would be different in Western media,” continued the editorial. “Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in the 2008 Games. Nobody seems to question the authenticity of his results, most probably because he is American.”
Nobody that is, except for China’s former Olympic doctor who claimed Tuesday he long suspected Michael Phelps as a doper, but remained silent because he had no evidence.
The Global Times acknowledged the country’s past doping incidents were an understandable source of suspicion towards Ye, but pointedly noted that she has passed doping tests conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
On China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, coverage of the Olympic Games included an on-air comment from host Zhou Yafei, who noted that Ye had passed her doping test and she hoped “the Western media will change their bias and jealousy.”
Meanwhile, on China’s Twitter-like service, Weibo, the nearly 2.7 million comments about the embattled swimmer were overwhelming supportive and helped make her the biggest trending topic on the popular microfeed service as of Wednesday afternoon.
“Do they have to be so obvious with their envy?” wrote one poster of the West’s coverage of Ye’s victories.
“All medalists and other athletes are tested at the Games,” wrote another. “It’d be way better if everyone would shut the hell up unless the test finds anyone positive from doping.”
But for many netizens in China, solidarity with Ye has manifested itself in one simple play on her name that has spread around Weibo: “Ye Shiwen = Yes she wins.”
NBC News’ Tianzhou Ye and Joy Li contributed to this report
Leave a Comment:
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Racism in the olympics.
That's all.
The Chinese would not do doping.
Only American imperialists like Armstrong.
...
Several Chinese have been getting caught doping in the last 5 years so that makes you the racist.
It is not racist at all. The Chinese have a long history of cheating in swimming and other sports. Just yesterday, two of their athletes were thrown out for thrown a badminton match to get a better pairing. In 2008, the Chinese "women" gymnasts were clearly under age, since they girl had previously given her age in interviews, but somehow the IOC chose to stand by the bogus birth certificate submitted by the Chinese. And in the 1990's, 28 of their swimmers tested positive.
Excuse us for not believing you (and I would say the same about American runners if someone all of a sudden started to blow away the field). You have quite the track record.
It'd be far easier for the Chinese, Ye and even the rest of the world, if China would stop engaging in such transparent righteous indignation (stonewalling is more the word) and have Ye submit to a drug test. If she hasn't doped, she has nothing to hide. Playing the ethnicity/country-of-origin card is more tired than China's xenophobia.
Not that I give a crap about Lance (Bicycling is a trendy/utilitarian thing in my town, not a "sport") but I believe he's the most tested athlete of all time, and there's no physical evidence to support doping claims. As far as being imperialists, wth does a man on a bike have to do with world politics.?. There's no conspiracy to US athletic programs.?. These people make their own choices, as I'm sure Ye Shewin has, and if tests negative great. There's legitimate questions when someone shaves 7 seconds off their time. no?
Most of the american track and field from the 90's were doppers. But that's ok because it's american. In fact, the american government went so far as to threaten IOC to not expose them, otherwise they will pull out of the IOC.
Ye had passed every single dope test from FINA for the last 2 year. I guess that's not enough for you racist. In fact, Phelps did exactly the same thing, shaving 5 seconds off his own record in 1 race, as did Ian Thorpe, but they are white so it must be legit.
"Ye Shiwen" = "Yes he wins", I thinks he/she is performing a little tuck under, or if you want to go the other chinese stereotype route could be just a real itty bitty scared turtle.
"Ye Shiwen" = "Yes he wins", I thinks he/she is performing a little tuck under, or if you want to go the other chinese stereotype route could be just a real itty bitty scared turtle.
The chinese just dont like ANYBODY'S free press. ;) They get a drug test at the end. Then we'll know.
Luckily the blood samples will be kept for eight years, and at sometime during that time period some clever scientists will discover what the Chinese actually used. Remember, all the East German specialists in the manufacture and masking of performance enhancing drugs lit out for China as soon as the Berlin wall started to crumble. The Chinese swimmer is 'dirty' - we just have not proved it yet. We will; and then she and others will be stripped of their medals.
Personally, I've spent time in China, and don't have a problem with the Chinese people. What led to the suspicion in the first place was that China's swimming team, specifically, not to mention other sports, have had doping convictions in the past. So legit or not, and unfair or deserved for the young lady, when you come from a team with a history of cheating, you're going to be viewed in that light.
Americans are sore losers. And a bunch of sour grapes.
When an American wins a medal, it's all flag waving and chest puffing. When another nationality wins, especially the Chinese, Americans publish massive speculation doping is involved. America likes to rain on someone's parade if an American is not at the center stage. A bunch of cry babies.
Did the Chinese go public about speculation that Phelp and Lockte using dope?
No one is questioning the talent of the Chinese. When a woman out-swims a man, this is naturally going to bring up questions, as historically men are faster, which is why they don't compete equally.
This is not to say she could not do this on her own, but the questions are valid, as her improvement in the past couple of years is beyond remarkable. Again, doesn't mean she didn't do it all on her own, but it is silly to cry racism, as it has nothing at all to do with race, it has to do with the speed of the racer.
Hey Mr. Ye, when it comes to arrogance, the Chinese could give lessons, I speak first hand from having had the exerience of having to work with a number of them, they a prone to looking down at us Westerners as being inferior to them.
This is a country that manipulates the value of its currency to the disadvantage of others and that violates the patents and copyrights of work produced elsewhere, and we should trust them? Well, if you want to be a mouth breathing dipstick, go ahead and trust them.
Comment # 1 restored for clarity.
Roadhouse Blues:
QE1 and QE2 are not US currency manipulation? And American businessmen purer than Ivory Snow?
Race issue - moronic. US govt doesn't sanction doping - and there is punishment. China govt sanctions, sponsors doping and protects their athletes from being tested and admitting to their drug program. Chinese lie to get on the world stage about everything. To not admit that is infantile.
- neither american nor chinese. don't give a damn except the truth.
Our government doesn't sanction it but you have no idea if China does or not. Stating that China prevents their athletes from being tested is absurd no one can enter any international event without submitting to testing. Probably half the athletes in the world are doping but unless they're caught their achievements should be accepted.
“Ye Shiwen = Yes she wins.”
Well said.
westerners, especially Americans, are in no position to question any country's ethic or morale when their government and financial systems are corrupted and on the brink of total collapse. even Woods, Shiwen's Australian coach admitted that most Westerners are too fat to compete in the Olympics HA HA HA!!!!!
"Wood also said the Chinese, especially the women, keep their weight down and that is the "whole secret" to their success. They come to his academy with their own chefs and shop for food in Brisbane's Chinatown.
"Fat cats don't fight; they sleep in front of the fire. And there are no fat cats in China," he said. "There's not one Chinese girl I've seen with weight on. ... That is a huge advantage for Chinese. Most of our girls, the Aussie girls, are carrying too much weight.""
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/swimming/chinese-success-raising-suspicions-of-doping.html
Yup. China is kicking butt in the the Olympics.
mark- Eh they were just doping allegations and the record shows she doesnt have it it seems so Shut your piehole man that country is just as bad as us if not worse. Sorry to burst your worship china bubble but all i gotta say to you is Tiananmen Square. In your words, HA HA HA HA....HA? Ha ha.
& it seems you said all that to say - NOTHING!
Pardon me for being one of the skeptical. The badmitten teams getting banned, Chinese products sent to an overseas market with altered ingredients?
Good for her if she's for real but don't blame the world for questioning the validity of her win based on the bad conduct of her country in the past.
They may have come up with a new doping agent that can't be detected yet. I hope her win is legit but past bad acts by her country make the world wonder how she could best one of the best males in that event.
When all else fails, cheat.
John Leonard swimming authority in dope should at least aknowledge that he is SORE LOSER, the HUGE americans female swimmers with no breasts and some male features were astonished by the performance of this USAIN BOLT(no steroids, no huge legs) of swimming, let then so far behind they have no excuse except to SLANDER and make false CRAZY accusations that makes no sense, where is the dope, maybe inside JOHN LEONARD sick, perverted mind. What about the other World record breakers, they were doped too, Ah no, they were white anglo saxons. John Leonard plain RACIST, simply put.
Americans and other Western athletes get questioned and tested all the time, and some have even lost their medals afterwards. It has nothing to do with what her race or nationality is. It has everything to do with the fact that she won and beat the previous record by such a large margin. Let the investigation take its course, as it has with so many Western athletes in the past. If she's clean - its all the more impressive. If she's not - it will come out. Personally, I hope she's clean. That was one heck of a race...
i like how Americans are standing firmly behind "innocent until proven guilty."
now that a member of a group can be punished for the actions made by other members years ago, i guess blacks can start demanding reparations now?
"your ancestors owned slaves so chances are you are a racist as well." how would you like that?
Armstrong has been repeatedly tested always comes back clean so shut your hole and congratulations to ye shiwen on her gold not all Westerners are prejudiced
Armstrong and this girl are both dopers.
The Chinese swim program had fifty swimmers booted for doping in the nineties: SEVEN at one meet (Asia Games in Japan) who all failed surprise dope tests.
I'll hold off on her (like for Armstrong) until they report a positive. But that program has a doping history....
AS outlined in a linked to article here:
"
Chinese Olympians were subjected to a state-sponsored doping regime in the 1980s and 1990s, a retired chief medical supervisor revealed to Australian media on Friday.
Xue Yinxian, the former chief doctor for the Chinese gymnastics team in the 1980s, said steroids and human growth hormones were officially treated as part of "scientific training" as the country emerged as a sporting power.
"It was rampant in the 1980s," she told the Sydney Morning Herald. "One had to accept it.""
And some German and Soviet athletes were given "vitamin" injections in the 60's, 70's and I think 80's. The athletes may or may not know.
Leave the girl alone until proof surfaces.
I don't think this is about her being Chinese at all. I would question ANYONE who beat their personal best by 7 seconds and any woman who beat the time of the fastest man in the world. It is virtually unbelievable.
Ditto. She's a doper.
Don't be hypocritical USA. Remember your lack of indignation over Florence Griffith-Joyner whose family rushed a cremation before a proper autopsy could be made. Or how you media-silenced and forgave Carl Lewis' and Butch Reynold's offences. Then look at and to note how the USA slam-dunk leads in doping cases (USA, USA,... ).
John, where do you get your number 50 for swimmers? China had 25 doping cases of which 5 were for swimmers and most were in track & field.
The Chinese are leading in more & more areas and have now added class.
At a 7 second improvement, it doesnt matter if she's a martian, she isnt clean.
The common sense needed to see that must be something chinese people dont have yet.
If she hit her turns better than she ever had, she could shave a lot off her time.
The Chinese press has a "right" to protest? Interesting, since there is no such thing as a free press in China. @!$%# 'em.
Ditto
The press is alot harder to deal with when you cant "disappear" them.
She may or may not be doping, but countries and programs continue to come up with things that are either not detectable, not tested for, or are new and not known they should be tested for.
That includes American baseball, American football and international sports of all kinds.
But, as an American, I say she is innocent until proven guilty.
After all the Chinese have such moral high ground..........
I'm afraid they all dope up, worldwide.
Based on the numerous comments that I read, I can't believe Americans are still so racist after all these years. They can't simply accept the fact that other human beings can be stronger, faster and smarter than they are.
domth--from my heart to yours STFU.
LOL! I cant believe anyone would post a comment that's this stupid.
Americans are quite racist, over all, and that goes for all races in America.
In the west we have a free press, something unknown in China. I, as an American, have much respect for China's accomplishments, they built the American Railroads in 1800's, among many others. Also they have been known to cheat. The press go wherever they think there is a story. A woman swimming faster than a man is a story. I hope Ye didn't cheat and won by fair means, and that is a great story also. The members of the Chinese press should think of Lance Armstrong, who was better than anybody for seven years, how times did people accuse him doping, and still do. So to the members of the Chinese press, if your going to play with the big boys, get a grip!!
Comment # 10 deleted, racist derail.
Barlow-1919963: When Chinese were living in palaces, your people were probably living in mud. Stop your racist ideas against Chinese. We had a downfall in history and US might have one coming up too!
Why is it racist to question China's training methods? Emphasis on "question" -- nothing's been proven. The East Germans were questioned about the same thing in the 1970s and 1980s when their women swimmers were built like men and it was taken for granted, though not admitted, that they used steroids. Doping today would involve newer and less detectable substances. If Ye can take off like a rocket on the last lap and also better her own personal record by several seconds, it looks suspicious. What's wrong with questioning it? The Chinese just aren't used to a free press. China, for some reason, unlike the rest of the world, is above criticism? Also, sue-2409354, what's this, "your people"? You're the racist.
Because for some it supposedly counters what is really showing - their PREJUDICE. People (all) have prejudices and bias, yet bigotry is what forms Racist/ism. It's just a play on words for those who do not want to admit what is the natural state of human beings thus again putting themselves above others.
Prejudice and Discrimination are brought about through these biases and usually stem from (as I stated) entitlement, where as Racism/ist are primarily ignorant people with small lives and minds, I could use the word HILLBILLIES here to break it down a little bit more for you - but that would be insulting HILLBILLIES and they are just to ignorant to care;-> Perhaps not answering your initial question really - just once again trying to define "Racist" or the racist attempt to dummy down such hate-fullness.
A 16 year old woman swims a split faster than a proven male champion? When something is too good to be true, it usually is. Especially when her team has a history of doping and cheating. Journalists would be remiss if they failed to ask questions, though the embarrassing lack of tact toward the young woman was unnecessary. Unless she fails a drug test she should be celebrated like any other participant in the games.
Indeed. The girl has gotten negative results from doping tests already, she should be honored.
dont forget that other western imperialist concept-- innocent until proven guilty.
Such flawed reasoning. Sports analysts have already pointed out the fact while Ryan Lochte had a comfortable lead and was coasting in the last lap, Ye Shiwen was behind and gunning for a win.
Lochte is also a weaker freestyler, while freestyle was Ye's best form. Ye's total time in the 400 IM is nowhere near men's time.
Additionally the time improvement implication is a non-starter. Her improvement amounts to 1.5% gain, while Ruta Meilutyte improved her time by 4%, yet no one is slamming her with doping allegation.
Innocent until proven guilty is for courts where official consequences are meted out. As an individual I am free to be suspicious of an incredible athletic feat. Also her country has a history of doping which makes it more suspicious. I understand the pride each country takes in their athletes and the feeling that you are being attacked when your winning athlete is suspected of doping, but that comes with the territory.
She should be given the benefit of the doubt, but remember that in China cheating is not frowned upon as in western countries. They cheat on their exams en masse apparently. Intellectual property is a foreign concept for them, the end justifies the means, so why should anyone be surprised ? Like another poster said, if it's too good to be true, it usually is..
This has nothing to do with racism, Western attitudes, or past Chinese doping. It has to do with a young girl who suddenly performed astronomically better than she has ever done, and better than some male swimmers. This was not simply an incremental improvement, for which she would not have elicited doubts. This was so far out of normal bounds that it defies explanation -- unless you consider doping.
yes and all the doping came negative. in fact she get extra test due to her performance. phelp also win several medal, and break some ridiouslly world record. is that mean he was doping too, should china and rest world media report accusation of phelp doping. shes innocent till proven guilty, something we all learn in US right?
You do 'get' that they don't test for everything, right?...
I might agree with that if it weren't for the fact that the vast improvement came at an early age, between 15 and 16. She could well have grown into the faster time with naturally developing strength along with the expert training which she is undoubtedly receiving. Watching her swim, she has an amazing fluidity in her stroke, plus the muscle power to back it up. Until/unless she actually fails a drug test, I agree that suspiciously interrogating her after such a performance was a nasty thing to do.
Good for her that she won gold.
That she beat a world champion beat the male gold medalist in the same event is a little.......crazy to say the least. I don't care if she's from China. She could be from the USA. If (I know this wouldn't happen) Missy Frankin beat Ryan Lochte in an event, I'd personally wonder how the heck she did it. It's not prejudice. Maybe she had the swim of her life. Maybe she was doped. Good for her that she got the medal.
Right, it's not prejudice. It's largely idiocy though.
Her overall 400m time was a lot slower than Lochte's. When Lochte started his freestyle leg, he was well ahead and only had to control the field. Ye was only second and had to give it everything she had. And freestyle is not Lochte's strongest style anyway, but for Ye, it is.
Once you actually engage your brain and look at matters more closely, they become a bit less crazy.
Marc-3844994
I agree with you, Marc....I watched Ye swim that race too and she was busting her butt to win and the look on her face when she saw her time was priceless...total astounishment! As for her being faster than Phelps that wouldn't be hard since he doesn't have the same form he had during the 2008 Olympics and the free style is her forte!
Give the young lady her due! She should be congratulated and not crucified for her achievement. All the athletes should be. I bet none of the commentors here can do what those athletes do...I know I can't! Jealousy is unbecoming! But I sure do envy their athletic prowness!
As for the doping bullcrap...she's passed the tests so she is innocent until proven otherwise!
Also, I'm an American...but I sure do get very tired of the bigotry of my countrymen!
Be that as it may, women, biologically, just do not have the upper body strength that a man does.
That is science, that is a fact. Look how long it took officials to find out the type of doping Armstrong was doing.
It'll take a while, but they will find out what gave her superhuman powers. It's very sad to see that a country has to win at all costs including the health of their athletes.
Maybe she was 'possessed'? Maybe 'blessed'? Maybe 'doped'. Maybe 'Innocent'. Maybe maybe maybe. Will probably never know the truth so get over it Americans.
If she passed all the tests, drop it. She is legal. If you think she may have been doped and it wasn't picked up, then that is problem with the tests and the governing body. Go after them. But, leave her alone and let her enjoy year new found fame and victories.
So the use of performance enhancing drugs is fine and moral as long as it isn't something that is going to show up on the tests currently in use at the time of the event? And if you subsequently win an event using something that isn't detected by the tests then in use, well that's the fault of the tests and the governing body? The moral obligation to play by the rules extends only to those rules that you can be caught for breaking? Any that you can break undetectably are fair game? Wow.
so other should start accus phelp cheating too? even he pass the test? you can't go one way than another way. double standard
Enough -- Your comments are completely ludicrous! If you can prove she cheated, step up and do so. Otherwise, sit down and keep your COMPLETELY UNFOUNDED SUPPOSITIONS to yourself. To infer that she won because she used some banned but undetectable substance without any evidence of her doing so is in very poor taste.
A few nights ago, Ms. Ye performed magnificently, she was tested, she passed that test and she has earned the honor and respect that comes with being an Olympic Champion. Period.
I was responding to Mr. Magnusson and my comments were not intended to be a reflection on Ms. Ye, I was merely questioning his apparent attitude that if you are not caught cheating with the tests currently employed, it's someone else's fault that you got away with cheating (the 'tests' and the 'governing body'). I disagree with that attitude, and apparently so do said governing bodies since they have frequently stripped medals from athletes years later when the detection technology caught up with the drug used. It makes me wonder why they keep trying it. They should know by know that the samples are retained for future retesting and if a new test determines they had used something they will be called out on it. That isn't to say that it is all on the athlete, I wouldn't put it past others (coaches, etc.) to claim something is vitamins or something innocuous and the athlete didn't have anything to do with it.
Enough-2735007 -- Exactly. Inherently, the doping tests have to play catch-up with new performance enhancers that are developed specifically to fool the tests.
Doctors are smart enough these days to stop the therapy early enough to let the evidence flush from their systems. No one would question her wins if she had ever won at a major meet before or had barely won this one. Dominance from any unknown is immediately suspect. Someone mentioned Phelps' performance in 2008. It wasn't questioned becuase he was expected to perform. If he had been a no-name swimmer, he would have been raked over the coals just like this girl. She cheated or her coach did. Period.
did you follow her event? i did, after all these accusation. seem like she start swim at 4, at 6 she got into state training, cause she has large hand/feet/ and a good power/weight ratio for swiming. she train with some the best coach in the world in US, and in australia for 5-8yrs. win asia swiming medal, some world competition medal etc etc.
heck before 2008 i don't even know phelp and i'm an american. so how many american you know track palyer from foreign country.
jts67 writes:
Just because you had never heard of her before does not mean that she is a "no-name swimmer." The article clearly states that she had won before, including at a previous world championship. She is to Chinese womens swimming what Michael Phelps is/was to American mens swimming the last few years, except she is still very young.
There is a double-standard at work here; An American swimmer (Michael Phelps) performs exceptionally well and our domestic press swoons and celebrates him. A Chinese swimmer (Ye Shiwen) performs exceptionally well and our press interrogates her like she's some as-yet-to-be-uncovered cheater. Nice.
Your english is horrible for an american...
how was it that lance armstrong tested negative for so long but is now facing a lifetime ban and the forfeiture of all his tour victories? it's because testing methods take time to catch up to cutting edge cheating.. there's no way someone makes a 7 second improvement over their previous best time in that amount of time.. no possible way.. i don't care who she is or what country she's from.
at one race phelp make 5 sec improvment than his previous record. so its now way now?? never say its impossible. proven until guilty, something we valued in this country
If you don't believe the Chinese cheat, ask the badminton team about "western bias".
If you bothered to read that article on what happened in the badminton matches, it was also Korean and Indonesian competitors who were dismissed for not trying to win every game. Due to how the tourney was structured, losing a little was actually helpful in terms of who you got to play next. So they were all trying not to win every game. Not a good thing but not exactly "cheating" per-se. Flawed tourney rules invited the problem.
Yeah, and if you watched the video of the badminton matches, it was obvious they were throwing it. The referee explicitly warned them, twice during the match, that they both were risking being disqualified from competition, but they did it anyway. They've been warned in previous competitions about throwing the matches, and were never disqualified. Personally, I'm glad someone finally had the balls to call out the "flopping" on the court, so as to say, "come back when you actually want to compete."
It's okay with me that they were disqualified too, but it was three countries' athletes who were all doing the same thing for the same reason.
Korea and Indonesia didn't try it until after China got away with it. They saw that they weren't going to be called on it so they attempted the same play.
So if I rob a bank after seeing others get away with it then I'm less guilty?
No, of course not. I wasn't saying that it was right, just that there was a progression of behaviour. I'm just guessing if the authorities had reacted definitively to the Chinese team, Korea and Indonesia would never have followed suit. Letting the first incident go unpunished for any amount of time implied that it was going to be an allowed strategic move. When it became obvious that is how letting China get away with it was going to be interpreted, they had to come down hard on everyone. Would have been better to just be strict from the get go.
Sure they were throwing the match but, the badminton players were "playing to win". using strategic positioning to give yourself the best chance at gaining overall championship is pure game theory. To do so otherwise isnt "playing to win" its playing to compete which is very different.
The round robin system they set up is prone to this behavior thus creating lame duck players (those who position isnt affected by the current match outcome) and king makers (those with no chance to advance but can affect the advancement of others).
One of the better fixes for the problem is the right to forfeit a match without consequences, this prevents "fake" matches from being played where one or both sides have no real incentive to win the game. Should both sides wish to forfeit, they must play the match and the winner of said match gets the right to forfeit. This prevents the spectators from seeing half hearted matches
Why can't a female athelete beat a male athlete in the same sport if she is good enough? We always assume that a male will always be better...
this swimmer is much younger than Loche and Phelps, maybe she should challenge Phelps and Loche to a contest LOL
I'll bet on the girl
You can settle this matter by having a contest with all the best male swimmers agains the girl .... test them before and after the race
If she beats them, we get a good laugh
Drugs do a body good. Also if she lost she might have been shot.
Dope is for dopes, I tell ya.
Hey China - I live in the west - I applaud your athlete for her accomplishment - I don't care what any commentator or anybody else says about her - she did a fantastic job. I love the Olympics and enjoy seeing athletes from around the world earn medals for their hard work. I also admit that the news media coverage of this years games has been totally awful. NBC has become a tabloid instead of a news reporting agency and I wish one of the other networks were doing the coverage.
On the other hand, I also admit that the judging for events has become very biased against the west and we are held at much higher standards than other countries. I don't care what anybody says, that gymnast should have gotten the highest possible score for her vault and everybody knows it and you know who I'm talking about.
If this young gal did anything illegally, it will come out and the rest of us, including the media, need to just enjoy the games and forget about all the politics involved.
Dear Chinese People, please don't be angry with the 99% American People! We don't condone their actions either but the corrupt Republican corporate MONARCHY controls us! They are the imperialists as you call them, we, the 99% American People are not and thank you for driving our prices down where they should have been all along!
We're hurting now! NO MONEY, NO JOBS & NO FUTURE!
Your apology is noted. Have a good day citizen...
Hey "TR" Rose, stop embarrassing yourself and the rest of us with your shallow political tripe and self-hating American B.S. You do NOT speak for 99% of the American people, not by a longshot.
Wouldn't be the first time the Chinese have cheated. Remember the gymnastics thing years back were there was evidence to support some of the girls being too young to compete?
and what those evidence is? she look young, thats about it. have you ever notice alot asian look younger than they actually is. heck we have a pretty bad track & field records on doping, is that mean anytime some american win in track, people start accuse them for cheating. be a sportsmanship and give the benefit of doubt, especially when multiple independent organization test here and the result were negative. untill someone prove she was cheating, she remain clean
@soo2wjh you'll never take over track & filed though i'm not from China, my kids learn at a very early age to run here in America from.......well fill in the blanks yourself since, no need for a state-of-the-art training facility. see u in 2016!
The Chinese cheat at everything. It's part of the culture. they reverse engineer ideas and steal them, they constantly hack and steal corporate secrets, they keep the currency artificially low to steal exports...this is life in China.
I could care less what "race" this young lady is. Even if she were an American, I would have to wonder about such unusual results. The fact is, they have completed the doping tests and nothing showed up so congratulations Ye Shiwen! I think we will be hearing a lot about you over the next few years! Very impressive!
tiredofhypocrites-794827
What we will be hearing about over the next few years is HOW SHE WAS FINALLY CAUGHT.