China hits back over claims supergirl swimmer's on drugs: Diplomatic storm grows over teen who swims faster than Ryan Lochte after U.S. coach says win was 'impossible'

Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen smashed world record by a second and her own personal best by five seconds



Coach John Leonard said history suggested doping could be involved

Called feat 'impossible' and said tests would prove if she had taken drugs

Swam last 50m faster than U.S. champion Ryan Lochte in the men's finals



A diplomatic storm was brewing last night over Olympic swimming sensation Ye Shiwen.

The Chinese 16-year-old was forced to deny using drugs after a respected US coach called her gold medal-winning performance ‘unbelievable’.

But her defiant pledge that the world record-breaking swim on Saturday – which saw her outpace the winner of the men’s event – came purely from ‘hard work and training’ failed to defuse a doping controversy gripping London 2012.



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Record breaker: Ye Shiwen knocked five seconds off her personal best and broke the world record by more than a second as she stormed to gold in the 400m individual medley in the London Olympics Beaten: Ryan Lochte, pictured, was slower than Ye over the last 50 metres of his own medley race

John Leonard, the US executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, described Saturday’s swim by ‘Supergirl’ Miss Ye – who last night broke the Olympic record in another event – as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘disturbing’.

He also made the extraordinary suggestion that the Chinese could be using genetic manipulation to enhance performances.

Outspoken: Top US swimming coach John Leonard called the feat 'unbelievable'

His claims came as anti-doping officials revealed that cleaners and security staff have been asked to spy on athletes in the Olympic Village and report anything suspicious that could be linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

Miss Ye’s gold medal came in the 400m individual medley, in which she swam the last 50m of the freestyle leg in 28.93 seconds – compared with the 29.1 seconds that 27-year-old American Ryan Lochte managed in the men’s event minutes earlier.

Her time for the whole event was more than five seconds better than her previous best.

Pressed on the use of drugs she told the China News Service last night: ‘There is absolutely no problem with doping. The Chinese have always had a firm policy about doping. My results come from hard work and training and I would never use any banned drugs. The Chinese people have clean hands.’

But Mr Leonard compared the final 100m swum by Miss Ye as being ‘reminiscent’ of some old East German swimmers, several of whom were subsequently exposed for using performance-enhancing drugs.

He said Miss Ye looks like Superwoman, adding: ‘Any time someone has looked like Superwoman in the history of our sport they have later been found guilty of doping.’

If someone could outpace one of the fastest male swimmers in the world and finish three-and-a-half lengths ahead of her nearest female rival, he said, ‘all those things, I think, legitimately call that swim into question’.

Head and shoulders above: The teenager (centre) holds an unassailable lead during her gold medal winning 400 metre medley race

Ye said her success was due to her training since she was identified as a potential champion

Medal winners: Ye Shiwen shows off the gold alongside the United States' Elizabeth Beisel, left, and compatriot Li Xuanxu following the final

Mr Leonard also called for an investigation into the Chinese, saying they could be using genetic manipulation.



‘It is a result that demands an explanation – it is unprecedented,’ he told the Mail. Genetic manipulation in animals, he said, had given added strength and oxygen usage. ‘Who knows what it can do to humans?’ he added.



CHINA: A HISTORY OF DRUG USE

Questions over Shiwen's performance come after a string of Chinese swimmers tested positive for doping in recent years. China won 12 of the 16 women's titles at the 1994 world championships in Rome but these achievements were sullied less than a month later when seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned drugs at the Asian Games in Hiroshima. At the 1998 world championships in Perth, four Chinese competitors were sent home after testing positive for steroids. It came a week after one of their team mates and her coach were caught smuggling human growth hormone at Sydney Airport. China's top backstroke swimmer and record holder Ouyang Kunpeng, now 29, was given a lifetime ban after he tested positive for the same substance a month before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The ban was later changed to two years. In 2009, five junior Chinese swimmers were banned for two years by the country's swimming association after they tested positive for the anabolic agent clenbuterol - a performance-enhancing drug. And in June Chinese state media said 16-year-old Li Zhesi, part of the country’s winning team at the 2009 World Championships, had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, EPO, which boosts the body’s oxygen supplies.

And he said Miss Ye’s performance had brought ‘back a lot of awful memories’ of Irish swimmer Michelle Smith’s winning performance at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Smith was banned for four years in 1998 for tampering with a drugs test. As a gold medal winner, Miss Ye will have been automatically drug-tested. The first four in each race are routinely tested. Last night she continued her astonishing success by setting a new Olympic record in the semi-finals of her best event, the 200m individual medley, with a time of 2 mins 8.39 seconds. Jonathan Harris, London 2012’s head of anti-doping, said that organisers had made security, cleaning, events services and others ‘very aware of the issue of doping, so if they were to come across practices, paraphernalia, whatever it may be, then they would bring it to our attention and, of course, we would investigate this and treat it as intelligence.’ A source close to the British swimming team, who did not want to be named, said yesterday: ‘There has been a lot of talk since Saturday about the Chinese swimmers, particularly Ye, and how they are managing to come out of nowhere and achieve these incredible times. 'We all know about the kind of punishing regimes the Chinese swimmers are put through.’ One insight came on Sunday. After winning silver in the 100m butterfly, Chinese athlete Lu Ling said: ‘In China we’re used to study, study and train, train and then rest. I think our way of thinking has many limits. In Australia I’ve been invited to barbecues with my teammates – that would never happen in China.’ Officials say there have been 1,461 drug tests carried out so far in this Olympics – no results are yet known – and that testers can take samples at any time. 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 eight 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.'



Congratulations: Ye Shiwen hugs Xuanxu Li after her victory at the Aquatics Centre at the Olympic Park

Sensation: Ye Shiwen managed to swim the final 50m length in the race in a time of 28.93, a time that was quicker than the men's champion Ryan Lochte Disappointed: Lochte shakes hand with Michael Phelps after they won silver in the 4x100m relay

Reminiscent? Irish swimmer Michelle Smith won four medals in Atlanta in 1996 - but was later found to have contaminated drug tests in an attempt to hide drug use

VIDEO: British Olympics Chief: Ye Shiwen is clean, end of story







VIDEO: Ye Shiwen video. The IOC reacts to China supergirl swimmer allegations