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Teen Sensation Ye Shiwen Defended By IOC

Organizers of the London Olympics and the governing body of swimming came to the defense of teen sensation Ye Shiwen.

Sport\'s president said suspicions that China\'s world record-breaking teen sensation Shiwen doped were "crazy" and motivated by jealousy and the IOC stressing its confidence in the drug testing program.

Born on March 1, 1996 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Ye Shiwen is a Chinese swimmer who has recently won gold medals in the 200 meters and 400 meters individual medley, setting the world record in the 400 meters event at the London 2012 Olympics.

She won the first place in 200 m individual medley and bagged the third position in 400 m individual medley at the 2010 China Water Games. During the 2010 Asian Games, Ye Shiwen attained the first place in 200 m individual medley and 400 m individual medley. Shiwen also won the first slot in 200m individual medley at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships and gained the top honors in 400 m individual medley and 200 m individual medley at the 2010 World Championships (25 m).

Top five athletes in each event, in addition to two others, are tested as part of "a very, very strong drug-testing program, and we are very confident if there are cheats we will catch them," Adams said.

International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said people need to get real and remarked that some of the world\'s best athletes are competing at the London Olympics. Adams went on to say that all sorts of records broken already all over the place during the Olympics and there is no end to speculations. The IOC spokesman added that it is sad that people who really perform fairly are doubted because of some who cheat by doping. He went on to remark that it is really sad that we cannot applaud a great performance and the benefits of the doubt should always be given to athletes.

The Chinese swimmer won the 400-meter individual medley on the opening day of the Olympic swimming competition and sliced through the last lap of the 400 in 28.93 seconds, which was faster than the 29.10 American winner, Ryan Lochte, posted in the last 50 of the men\'s race.

John Leonard, head of the American Swimming Coaches Association, was among those openly questioning legitimacy of Ye Shiwen. Leonard was quoted him as saying the last 100 of her race "was reminiscent of some old East German swimmers."

Leonard said sport history is enough to tell that every time he has raised questions about something, doping has been proven in that something.

FINA president Julio Maglione said of Ye\'s doubters that this is a big mistake and people saying things is crazy.

Maglione added he has absolutely no suspicions about Ye and said FINA spends $1 million to drug-test the top 30 swimmers in the world two or three times a year and "swimming is absolutely clean."

"Some people are just biased," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the anti-doping chief for China\'s General Administration of Sport, Jiang Zhixue, as saying. "We never questioned Michael Phelps when he bagged eight gold medals in Beijing."

Sebastian Coe, head of the London organizing committee, said it would be extremely unfair to evaluate an athlete by a sudden breakthrough. Coe added that top performances are results of years of hard work and determination and such athletes do not earn overnight success.

John Brewer, a board member of UK Anti-Doping and director of sport at the University of Bedfordshire said drug testing procedures are extremely rigorous at the London 2012 Olympics and the storage of samples for 8 eight years after the games making doping a very high-risk strategy. He added that people should not get surprised by exceptional performances as athletes winning gold medals inevitably different to the rest of us due to their talent, training and lifestyles.