How DID China's girl torpedo go so fast? Clare Balding's astonishment and questions over the 400m triumph by teenage sensation

• Balding asked pundit Mark Foster 'How many questions will there be over somebody who can swim so much faster than she have ever swum before'
• Question provoked storm on Twitter with some viewers backing the presenter and others calling for her sacking
• Chinese swimmer athlete Ye Shiwen smashed world record by a second and her own personal best by five

Surprised: Clare Balding's asked studio pundit Mark Foster how the Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen knocked five seconds off her best time but the question has provoked allegations that she suggested the swimmer was cheating

As Chinese swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen completed an extraordinary performance to smash the world record, the surprise in Clare Balding’s voice was clear.
At the age of 16, Miss Ye had just stunned spectators at the Olympic pool by swimming the final freestyle 50m of the 400m individual medley in 28.93seconds.
Not only was that faster than the  27-year-old American Ryan Lochte had managed minutes earlier to win his gold in the men’s version of the same event, it was part of an overall time a whole five seconds quicker than her previous best.
The result prompted BBC presenter Miss Balding to ask former British Olympian Mark Foster, in the studio as a pundit: ‘How many questions will there be, Mark, about somebody who can suddenly swim so much faster than she has ever swum before?’
Chinese swimming has previously been tainted by drug scandals – another 16-year-old world champion tested positive for doping last month – but Foster sought to play down any suggestion of cheating.
He said: ‘It was a five-second best time and it was the way she did it as well. Bearing in mind she is 16 years of age, and when you are young you do some big best times… it can be done.’
But Miss Balding’s question provoked a storm among BBC viewers on Twitter, with many praising her for daring to even hint at the possibility of cheating, but many criticising her for tainting the Chinese swimmer’s achievement and some even calling for her sacking.

 

Last night the BBC defended Miss Balding’s comments, insisting: ‘The Chinese swimmer had just knocked five seconds off her personal best to break a world record; in her role as a presenter it is Clare’s job to ask the experts (in this case Mark Foster), how she managed to do it. There was absolutely no implication of doping.’

Playing it down: Former British Olympic Mark Foster dismissed the suggestion of cheating and said her young age may have something to do with it

Record breaker: Ye Shiwen knocked five seconds off her personal best and broke the world record by more than a second as she stormed to gold in the 400m individual medley

Medal winners: Ye Shiwen shows off the gold alongside the United States' Elizabeth Beisel, left, and compatriot Li Xuanxu following the final

Congratulations: Ye Shiwen hugs Xuanxu Li after her victory at the Aquatics Centre at the Olympic Park

GABBY FIGHTS SEXISM ON TV

BBC presenter Gabby Logan says she has been forced to battle what she sees as endemic sexism in sports broadcasting and is often reminded of the ‘high-testosterone’ environment of her male-dominated industry.
Mrs Logan, above, said: ‘I’ve experienced sexism in my career – comments and situations that are specific to me being a woman.
‘It was quite apparent during the [football] World Cup in South Africa. I was staying in quite an isolated place, in a high-testosterone environment. I just wanted to go back to my hotel and read a magazine.’

The success of China, which won more gold medals in the pool on the first day than it did in the whole of its own Olympics in Beijing four years ago – prompted further questions, with some fearing China’s sudden resurgence is a throwback to days of the 1994 Rome world championships, when its drug-powered women swept to 13 of the 16 available golds.
In June Chinese state media said 16-year-old Li Zhesi, part of the country’s winning team at the 2009 World Championships, had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, EPO, which boosts the body’s oxygen supplies.
The Chinese, who point out that their athletes are regularly tested, have gone to great lengths to ensure there is no chance of any of their athletes failing dope tests in London and are said to have even imposed a ban on them eating the food prepared at the Olympic Village.
Miss Ye began her illustrious career when she was plucked from a primary school classroom. Teachers in China are trained to look out for pupils with promising physical attributes and noticing the seven-year-old had unusually large hands and long legs, her teacher alerted the local government sports officials.

Sensation: Ye Shiwen managed to swim the final 50m length in the race in a time of 28.93, a time that was quicker than the men's champion Ryan Lochte

She left home to begin an intensive training regime at one of China’s 3,000-plus state-run and funded ‘medal factories’, designed to transform talented youths into ruthless sporting machines.

Aged just 12, she was selected for the national team. She took her trainers by surprise at the World Championships in Shanghai last year, producing a devastating freestyle triumph in the 200m individual medley.
Her trajectory caught Communist Party propagandists by surprise, but they have since given her the kind of profile usually afforded to more established stars.
‘Her career has been rocket-like. She’s one of the other great discoveries following the 2008 Beijing Olympics,’ the Communist Party’s newspaper of choice, the People’s Daily, declared.