Ye Shiwen accused of doping

Many members of the media have insinuated that Ye Shiwen, the 16 year old Chinese gold medalist in both the 200 Individual Medley and the 400 Individual Medley, has been doping.  Aside from the fact that she has achieved so much at such a young age, the media claims to be suspicious of Ye because she swam the final 50 meters of her 400 IM faster than Ryan Lochte, the gold medalist in the men's 400 IM, swam the final 50 of his race.  Ye's time of 28.93 was no doubt incredibly fast, however, in the past women have had similar splits in distance events.  Italy's Federica Pellegrini swam the final 50 meters of her world record breaking performance in the 200 freestyle at the 2009 world championships in 28.60, a time faster than that of Yi.  Kate Ziegler swam the final 50 of her record breaking performance in the 1500 meter freestyle in 29.27, just 3 tenths slower than Ye.  There have been several other swims by women in international competitions in which the final 50 has been similar to that of Ye.

Lochte's final 50 of 29.10 was fairly slow by his standards.  In the past he has swum several much faster splits.  Additionally half of the field in the finals of the 400 IM swam the final 50 faster than Ye.  Michael Phelps' last split in his world record breaking 400 IM at the Beijing games was 27.85, a substantially faster time than that of Ye.

It is extremely disrespectful and unprofessional that reporters have dampened what was supposed to be the happiest day of Ye's life, by publicly accusing her of doping, despite the fact that she has never tested positive for any performance enhancing drugs.  Those same reporters have never questioned Ruta Meilutyte, the 15 year old Lithuanian who went from being ranked 14th in the 100 breaststroke before the Olympics to winning the gold medal in the event.
I want to make it clear that I don't believe that Meilutyte is guilty of doping, but am bringing her up in order to demonstrate that the primary reason that the media is accusing Ye of doping is not solely her age nor her performance in the final 50 meters of her race.  Ye is being bombarded by doping accusations because of the Chinese history of doping.  Between 1990 and 1998, 28 Chinese swimmers tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.  Unfortunately, no matter what Ye does and no matter how many drug tests she passes,  her accomplishments will always be viewed with suspicion because of her country's history.