Download Olympic champions have to have guts, determination, belief and grace under pressure, qualities that are also needed to face the slings and arrows of false accusations. Swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen has these qualities in abundance. Ye, 16, should be basking in triumph as China's first double gold medalist swimmer at an Olympics following sensational victories in both the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys. Instead, she has had to encounter snide comments and allegations in the wake of her success. Ye can handle both the bouquets and brickbats and will not let any unfounded allegations dampen her justifiable pride. Back home, Ye has won the hearts of millions with her stunning performance and ready smile. On weibo, people pointed out that her name suits her very well: "Yeah, she won". "The allegations are a little bit unfair, but I am not affected by them at all," Ye said, employing modest understatement, after breaking the Olympic record to win the 200m individual medley in 2 min and 7.57 sec on Tuesday. Since shattering the world record for the 400m individual medley with an eye-catching last-leg freestyle sprint on Saturday, Ye has been put under the microscope, with pundits alleging that her last 50 meters of 28.93 sec, faster than US swimmer Ryan Lochte's equivalent in the male event, could only be explained by drug use. John Leonard, the head of the American Swimming Coaches Association, but not a member of the US Olympic staff, told The Guardian that "every time we see something ... 'unbelievable', history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved". |