Ye hits out at U.S. coach Leonard
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E-mail Xinhua, August 3, 2012
Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen said on Thursday that American swimming coach John Leonard, who kept accusing her of doping, was unprofessional.
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Ye Shiwen in women's 400-meter indiviual medley race at 2012 London Olympics. |
"The coach was not professional," said Ye, who broke the women's 400m medley world record to win an Olympic gold last Saturday and won the 200m medley title on Tuesday.
Ye's good results aroused questions about whether or not she had doped to achieve success.
Leonard, head of the American Swimming Coaches Association, described Ye's freestyle time of 58.68 seconds for the last 100 meters in her 400m individual medley victory as "unbelievable" and raised suspicions about the authenticity of her swims.
The Chinese swimmer, who set a world record of 4:28.43 in the 400m medley, swam a faster last-50 meters than men's 400m medley winner Ryan Lochte from the United States.
"It doesn't add up," said Leonard. "She swam three competitive splits in pine wire what women are doing right now and then she unleashed an historic anomaly. There's something not quite right there."
Ye said that she was no match with Lochte. "How can I be compared with Lochte," she said. "His 400m result was more than 20 seconds faster than mine, and he was totally relaxed over the last part of the race. But I was trying my best to come back from behind."
"Freestyle was my favorite in the medley, but I still cannot be compared with professional men's freestylers," she added.
Ye broke the Olympic record to win the 200m medley Tuesday. Leonard said her last 50m time - 29.32 seconds - was far behind what she did in 400m medley, and hinted that Ye intentionally slowed down to avoid suspicions.
"Freestyle turn is different from breaststroke-to-freestyle transition and the former is much faster than the latter," Ye said. "So it's normal the last 50m in the 200m medley is slower than that in the 400m medley."
Ye has been among the world top women's medley swimmers since 2010. She won the 200m medley at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai after a strong sprint in the last 50m free, which timed 29.77 seconds.
Ye and her teammate Li Xuanxu, bronze medalist in the 400m medley at London Olympics, are the only two female swimmers able to swim within 30 seconds in the last 50m of both the 200m and 400m medley.
According to FINA, the American Swimming Coaches Association is an unofficial association, and is outside FINA and USA Swimming Association. FINA had made a statement Wednesday to support Ye and said there was no factual basis to support this kind of insinuations related to the performances of Ye.
"If a foreign swimmer achieved this result, they may say it is a miracle," said the 16-year-old Ye. "I won't be affected by any accusations."
Ye's competition at the London Games came to an end after the women's 4X200m freestyle relay Wednesday, and what she wants most is not celebration but a good sleep.
"Because of doping tests and press conferences, I went back to my room very late these days," she said. "I am very sleepy. As the competition is over, I can finally have a good sleep."
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