I sympathize with this young Chinese athlete who now has two gold medals at the age of 16. But a girl who can swim faster than the male world champions is going to draw some questions. It has simply never happened before. The male champion swimmers are on average about 15% faster than the females. It's a physical makeup thing, with men on average possessing about 10% more muscle and less fat. It's why the NBA has about 400 men who can dunk a ball during a game and the WNBA has one. Can women best men in swimming events? Yes. Can the best women beat the best men in swimming events? It's never happened before.
So how fast was she? Try faster than Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, two American mens world champions. Consider that in sprint events in swimming and track that the difference between the gold medal and finishing fourth or lower is usually less than 1%. Any alteration that could enhance an athletes natural abilities 10% or more is a massive leap among elite athletes. Below is an excerpt from a Reuters news report.
"Doubts over Ye's display, and whether it was humanly possible without performance-enhancing drugs, surfaced after her stunning 400 individual medley display on Saturday which swiftly became the talk of the Olympic village.
She trailed American world champion Elizabeth Beisel after the penultimate breaststroke leg before a devastating finish over the final two freestyle lengths.
Ye covered the penultimate one in 29.75 seconds, faster than medal-laden Michael Phelps in the men's medley final, and the last in 28.93, quicker than Ryan Lochte did in winning the men's event.
She also became the first female swimmer to break a world record since the ban of hi-tech suits, taking more than a second off the previous benchmark.
"Interesting" and "insane" were two words used to describe the race by former Olympians quoted in the New York Times, although many coaches and athletes rallied behind Ye on Tuesday as the furore grew."
As the article below points out, genetic modification is not just for James Bond movies anymore.
The controversy over Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen’s astonishing gold medal performance this week is no longer confined to just the suspicions of drug abuse, which she emphatically denies.
It has raised concerns about another worrying — and infinitely more sinister — threat to the world of honest competition: the genetic enhancement of athletes.
John Leonard, the highly respected American director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, described the 16-year-old’s world-record-breaking performance as ‘suspicious’, ‘disturbing’ and ‘unbelievable’.
‘Any time someone has looked like superwoman in the history of our sport they have later been found guilty of doping,’ he added.
He went on to say that the authorities who tested Ye Shewin for drug abuse should also check to see ‘if there is something unusual going on in terms of genetic manipulation’.
A Chinese anti-doping official, Jiang Zhixue, described Leonard’s claims as completely unreasonable.
The astonishing suggestion seems to be that London 2012 may be the first Olympics in which competitors are attempting to cheat by altering their genes to build muscle and sinew, and boost their blood’s oxygen-carrying powers.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181873/Genetically-modified-athletes-Forget-drugs-There-suggestions-Chinese-athletes-genes-altered-make-stronger.html#ixzz22GFysSUW
This is the link to an article from the Center for Genetics and Society, with some of the publically available info that sparked interest in athletes acquiring genetice "upgrades". One of the biggest advantages is that genetic alterations would not be detectible by current blood testing that is aimed at substances that might appear in the bloodstream. The article is at - http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=1508
So how fast was she? Try faster than Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, two American mens world champions. Consider that in sprint events in swimming and track that the difference between the gold medal and finishing fourth or lower is usually less than 1%. Any alteration that could enhance an athletes natural abilities 10% or more is a massive leap among elite athletes. Below is an excerpt from a Reuters news report.
"Doubts over Ye's display, and whether it was humanly possible without performance-enhancing drugs, surfaced after her stunning 400 individual medley display on Saturday which swiftly became the talk of the Olympic village.
She trailed American world champion Elizabeth Beisel after the penultimate breaststroke leg before a devastating finish over the final two freestyle lengths.
Ye covered the penultimate one in 29.75 seconds, faster than medal-laden Michael Phelps in the men's medley final, and the last in 28.93, quicker than Ryan Lochte did in winning the men's event.
She also became the first female swimmer to break a world record since the ban of hi-tech suits, taking more than a second off the previous benchmark.
"Interesting" and "insane" were two words used to describe the race by former Olympians quoted in the New York Times, although many coaches and athletes rallied behind Ye on Tuesday as the furore grew."
As the article below points out, genetic modification is not just for James Bond movies anymore.
Genetically modified athletes: Forget drugs. There are even suggestions some Chinese athletes' genes are altered to make them stronger
By John NaishThe controversy over Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen’s astonishing gold medal performance this week is no longer confined to just the suspicions of drug abuse, which she emphatically denies.
It has raised concerns about another worrying — and infinitely more sinister — threat to the world of honest competition: the genetic enhancement of athletes.
John Leonard, the highly respected American director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, described the 16-year-old’s world-record-breaking performance as ‘suspicious’, ‘disturbing’ and ‘unbelievable’.
The record-breaking achievements of China's 16-year-old Ye Shiwen in the Olympic swimming pool have caused some to suggest she is taking performance enhancing drugs
He went on to say that the authorities who tested Ye Shewin for drug abuse should also check to see ‘if there is something unusual going on in terms of genetic manipulation’.
A Chinese anti-doping official, Jiang Zhixue, described Leonard’s claims as completely unreasonable.
The astonishing suggestion seems to be that London 2012 may be the first Olympics in which competitors are attempting to cheat by altering their genes to build muscle and sinew, and boost their blood’s oxygen-carrying powers.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181873/Genetically-modified-athletes-Forget-drugs-There-suggestions-Chinese-athletes-genes-altered-make-stronger.html#ixzz22GFysSUW
This is the link to an article from the Center for Genetics and Society, with some of the publically available info that sparked interest in athletes acquiring genetice "upgrades". One of the biggest advantages is that genetic alterations would not be detectible by current blood testing that is aimed at substances that might appear in the bloodstream. The article is at - http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=1508
