Double winner Ye remains calm as she answers critics
By Dong Zhen |
August 2, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S swimming sensation answered her critics yesterday after winning her second gold medal of the London Olympics.
At a news conference following her latest victory at the Aquatics Centre, a reporter demanded that Ye Shiwen answer "yes" or "no" to whether she had ever used any performance enhancing substances.
Remaining calm, the 16-year-old replied: "Absolutely not."
She added: "In other countries, swimmers have won multiple golds and nobody has said anything. How come people criticize me just because I have won multiple golds?"
Ye stunned world swimming on Saturday by winning gold in the 400m individual medley in a world-record time.
In her final 50 meters freestyle, she was even faster than American Ryan Lochte, who won the men's event.
American coach John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, called her performance "suspicious" and said it brought back "a lot of awful memories" of Irish swimmer Michelle Smith's race in the same event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Smith was banned for four years in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample.
The Chinese online community reacted in fury at Leonard's remarks, demanding an apology.
The criticism of Ye was the most widely debated topic on Weibo.com, China's biggest social networking platform.
Nearly 2.7 million people took part in the discussion, expressing overwhelming support for the first Chinese swimmer to win two gold medals at a single Olympics.
Ye's fellow swimmers were also quick to lend their support.
Sun Yang, interviewed on television after his team had won bronze in the men's 4X200 freestyle relay on Tuesday, said: "She could totally ignore such questions or ask back: 'The Chinese swimmers have trained so hard for so many years. If Americans could win so many gold medals from the swimming pool, why couldn't Chinese?'"
World champion Zhang Lin said on his Weibo microblog: "You are cool with Michael Phelps bagging eight golds over a single Olympics. Why Ye should face such suspicions for winning two? She does not deserve to face a shower of such questions."
International Olympics Committee spokesman Mark Adams called doping allegations against Ye "sad" and "pure rumor."
The swimmer's father, Ye Qingsong, told Chinese news portal Tencent that while it was normal for people to be suspicious, "the Western media has always been arrogant and suspicious of Chinese people."
The UK's Guardian newspaper, which originally reported Leonard's comments, opened a poll on its website, asking: "Does Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen deserve an apology" from the US coach.
By late last night, some 98 percent of those who voted online believed that she does.
At a news conference following her latest victory at the Aquatics Centre, a reporter demanded that Ye Shiwen answer "yes" or "no" to whether she had ever used any performance enhancing substances.
Remaining calm, the 16-year-old replied: "Absolutely not."
She added: "In other countries, swimmers have won multiple golds and nobody has said anything. How come people criticize me just because I have won multiple golds?"
Ye stunned world swimming on Saturday by winning gold in the 400m individual medley in a world-record time.
In her final 50 meters freestyle, she was even faster than American Ryan Lochte, who won the men's event.
American coach John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, called her performance "suspicious" and said it brought back "a lot of awful memories" of Irish swimmer Michelle Smith's race in the same event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Smith was banned for four years in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample.
The Chinese online community reacted in fury at Leonard's remarks, demanding an apology.
The criticism of Ye was the most widely debated topic on Weibo.com, China's biggest social networking platform.
Nearly 2.7 million people took part in the discussion, expressing overwhelming support for the first Chinese swimmer to win two gold medals at a single Olympics.
Ye's fellow swimmers were also quick to lend their support.
Sun Yang, interviewed on television after his team had won bronze in the men's 4X200 freestyle relay on Tuesday, said: "She could totally ignore such questions or ask back: 'The Chinese swimmers have trained so hard for so many years. If Americans could win so many gold medals from the swimming pool, why couldn't Chinese?'"
World champion Zhang Lin said on his Weibo microblog: "You are cool with Michael Phelps bagging eight golds over a single Olympics. Why Ye should face such suspicions for winning two? She does not deserve to face a shower of such questions."
International Olympics Committee spokesman Mark Adams called doping allegations against Ye "sad" and "pure rumor."
The swimmer's father, Ye Qingsong, told Chinese news portal Tencent that while it was normal for people to be suspicious, "the Western media has always been arrogant and suspicious of Chinese people."
The UK's Guardian newspaper, which originally reported Leonard's comments, opened a poll on its website, asking: "Does Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen deserve an apology" from the US coach.
By late last night, some 98 percent of those who voted online believed that she does.
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