(AP) LONDON - The International Olympic Committee has sprung to the defense of China's teenage swim sensation Ye Shiwen, saying she passed a drug test after her world record win in the 400 medley.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams urged people to "get real" and said it is "very sad" if great performances cannot be applauded.
The 16-year-old shattered the world record in getting her gold Saturday. There has since been speculation about how she swam so fast.
China swimmer Ye Shiwen smashes record, draws doping speculation
Adams said: "I think we need to get real here."
"These are world class athletes competing at the very highest level with records being broken all over the place."
Alain Bernard, the 2008 Olympic freestyle champion from France, was among those who wondered how the teen swam so fast.
"I'm for clean sport, without doping, and I truly hope the authorities in charge of this are doing their job in good conscience and really well," he said. "Unfortunately, I want to say that there is no smoke without fire. But today there is no proof to show that any Chinese has tested positive in this competition."
Ye's astounding world record in the 400 medley, when she swam the last 50 meters faster than American Ryan Lochte did in winning the equivalent men's race, isn't solely attributable to her large hands and feet. It also is at least partly because China, which has grown to become the world's second-largest economy, now throws big checks at some of swimming's sharpest minds. China has turned to foreign trainers to get their coaching programs, expertise and methods, not only to hone its swimming stars but to make them more rounded and relaxed, too. The idea is that happy swimmers are fast swimmers.
Ye has trained in Australia with two well-recognized coaches, Ken Wood and Denis Cotterell. Wood has had a contract with the Chinese Swimming Association since 2008, and 15 of China's swimmers in London, plus five of its relay swimmers, have trained at his academy north of Brisbane, rotating through in groups for a couple of months at a time, he told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
