Mark Foster: China drugs smears don’t hold water
Plus, why Team GB are showing progress after having ten finalists in the swimming so far
No question about the talking point of the pool so far – the stunning swims by China’s Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen.
US coach John Leonard stirred up a hornet’s nest with his comments about their “unbelievable” performances, drawing parallels with similar displays by other competitors in the past later found to be drug enhanced.
But there’s no evidence at all and I’ve always believed in a simple principle – innocent until proven guilty.
Yes, there have been performances previously that might point towards something else but perhaps the Chinese are just doing things differently, maybe diet, maybe training.
If they have developed something new, you would have thought it would aid the whole team, not just two swimmers, and we all know where Leonard is coming from.
But Ye might just be the female Michael Phelps, someone taking the sport to a new level who will become a legend. China could not have a wider talent pool to draw from. Their huge population is a resource other countries don’t have.
And when Phelps won eight golds in Beijing, the Chinese and the rest of the world didn’t start asking what the US were doing. We all just agreed he was amazing.
It’s the same with the Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte, who won the 100m breaststroke last night. The 15-year-old (below) is trained in Plymouth by a British coach and we just accept she is talented. I want to believe what I see, unless I discover otherwise.
Team GB haven’t been as successful as we would have liked so far, although Liam Tancock and Gemma Spofforth swam as well as they could to finish fifth in their 100m backstroke finals last night.
But I think we have to be more realistic. In Sydney only five GB swimmers reached finals – I was one of them - and didn’t get a medal.
After three nights here we’ve had 10 finalists. That shows the progress.
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