An official apology to all Chinese.

[Mo Gosfield]

I officially apologise for any suggestion that I might have made earlier that a performance by a 16 yr old Chinese swimmer was in any way ' surprising '
Adrian Moorhouse has put it on record this morning by saying, that knocking 5 seconds off her PB and completing 50m quicker than the fastest man on the planet, is perfectly reasonable and any criticism is ' sour grapes ' Apparently, she has previous, in that she is world ranked.
Apparently, when he was 17 he knocked 4 seconds off his PB. Apparently, thats perfectly feasible at that age. So thats alright then.
Apparently, over 100 Chinese athletes have been dope tested thus far in London and not one has been positive. So thats alright then. I can now sleep easy. No more worries about Chinese rate of progress. It is all down to that little green- eyed monster called envy.
Once again I apologise for suggesting that this proud nation might be doing anything underhand. After all, who are we to talk.
I am now going to retreat to my inner sanctum, adopt the lotus position, meditate on the error of my ways and then beat myself raw with a wire brush.

 

[Simster]

Yep, I read that too on the BBC live text. My thought is that surely either all the Chinese swimmers are at it or none of them are, and to be fair this is the only result that is raising eye brows.

 

[Triggaaar]

That aside though, she is definitely cheating, and I expect many others are too. Basically the anti doping agency are not testing enough prior to the games and many athletes are cheating. Just like when Linford won in 92.

If the Chinese have been taking growth hormones, they probably can't even test for it after the event.

 

[Uncle C]

I officially apologise for any suggestion that I might have made earlier that a performance by a 16 yr old Chinese swimmer was in any way ' surprising '
Adrian Moorhouse has put it on record this morning by saying, that knocking 5 seconds off her PB and completing 50m quicker than the fastest man on the planet, is perfectly reasonable and any criticism is ' sour grapes ' Apparently, she has previous, in that she is world ranked.
Apparently, when he was 17 he knocked 4 seconds off his PB. Apparently, thats perfectly feasible at that age. So thats alright then.
Apparently, over 100 Chinese athletes have been dope tested thus far in London and not one has been positive. So thats alright then. I can now sleep easy. No more worries about Chinese rate of progress. It is all down to that little green- eyed monster called envy.
Once again I apologise for suggesting that this proud nation might be doing anything underhand. After all, who are we to talk.
I am now going to retreat to my inner sanctum, adopt the lotus position, meditate on the error of my ways and then beat myself raw with a wire brush.

Worried by the arrest are we?

 

[Elvis]

Worried by the arrest are we?

Think he's more worried they might gob in his next take away!

 

[severnside gull]

There are always dodgy things going on in sport and what would be considered "cheating" at a lower level becomes "borderline" as you raise the level of competion and then "normal practice" when you get to the elite level. I'm afraid I don't really trust any competitive sports person much more than I trust the average politician (which is to say, not at all). For sure the professional coaches of the professional athletes will always be a step ahead of the amateur rule-makers.

 

[Woodchip]

Ah, but according to some it's only cyclists that cheat.

Meh!!!!

 

[Badger]

Ah, but according to some it's only cyclists that cheat.

Meh!!!!

You certainly don't see sour grapes in the cycling!

 

[bhafc99]

I think we need to test those sour grapes. Maybe they've been doctored with a few extras...

 

[Stat Brother]

You certainly don't see sour grapes in the cycling!

I guess it's all about perspective.
In Cav I saw a born winner pissed off with losing because he felt like he'd let his whole country down.

In the pool, last night, I saw 2 elite athletes, lose heavily, skip out of the pool saying 'roll on Rio'.

I know where I'd rather the funding went.

 

[Badger]

I guess it's all about perspective.
In Cav I saw a born winner pissed off with losing because he felt like he'd let his whole country down.

In the pool, last night, I saw 2 elite athletes, lose heavily, skip out of the pool saying 'roll on Rio'.

I know where I'd rather the funding went.

I know what you mean, my comment was very tongue in cheek. Despite what Cav said at least he spoke his mind, it makes a change to hear that kind of thing rather than the usual "it was amazing, I couldn't have done any more, I'll come back stronger next time".

 

[Woodchip]

I know what you mean, my comment was very tongue in cheek. Despite what Cav said at least he spoke his mind, it makes a change to hear that kind of thing rather than the usual "it was amazing, I couldn't have done any more, I'll come back stronger next time".

After hearing some of Cav's interviews I think he may of been holding back on this one.

 

[Badger]

After hearing some of Cav's interviews I think he may of been holding back on this one.

Fair point, he's not one to sugar coat things!

 

[Langley]

If the Chinese have been taking growth hormones, they probably can't even test for it after the event.


No but they could have their height measured before and after the event.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

China is the biggest country in the world, and has the most resources.

They also have a very different set of attitudes to us, in terms of training, etc.

If you are cherry picked to be a swimmer, at the age of five, and sent to a training camp to work at your swimming 8 hours a day for the next ten years, with the best facilities around you, and no distractions (like school, freinds, family life, etc), chances are you'll get quite good.

Then consider that even then, there will be 200 of these hand picked swimmers in each age group, and only the best handful will be the ones we will see on the world stage.

 

[kano]

I think we are getting to the stage where the line of what constitutes doping and what doesn't is becoming so blurred by medical science its almost a pointless exercise. What constitutes doping? Taking a performance enhancing substance? or just certain substances from an ever changing list? I mean they sell big tubs of creatine in the supermarket nowadays ffs.

Let them eat drugs i say.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Think he's more worried they might gob in his next take away!

Please read the thread on poo in the microwave !

 

[Triggaaar]

In Cav I saw a born winner pissed off with losing because he felt like he'd let his whole country down.

In the pool, last night, I saw 2 elite athletes, lose heavily, skip out of the pool saying 'roll on Rio'.

I know where I'd rather the funding went.

A few differences - Cav is the best sprinter, was hoping for gold, and this is the twilight of his career, while the other British athletes weren't expecting to do as well and still have time for another go. They had done their best, while Cav was never in a position to do his best.

China is the biggest country in the world, and has the most resources.

They also have a very different set of attitudes to us, in terms of training, etc.

If you are cherry picked to be a swimmer, at the age of five, and sent to a training camp to work at your swimming 8 hours a day for the next ten years, with the best facilities around you, and no distractions (like school, freinds, family life, etc), chances are you'll get quite good.

Then consider that even then, there will be 200 of these hand picked swimmers in each age group, and only the best handful will be the ones we will see on the world stage.

Understood, and if no one ever doped I'd expect the Chinese to win loads. But I wouldn't expect their 16 year old girls to swim faster than the men's gold medalist. This isn't picking on China, loads of athletes cheat - if you saw the program a week ago on the 1988 men's 100m final, they said how they re-tested old samples from the US athletes, and so many were doping they thought it best to throw the results away. Linford cheated, Marion Jones cheated (and basically got away with it until she was dobbed in). I wouldn't be surprised if every gold medalist weight lifter had cheated. The anti-doping agency aren't doing nearly enough to stop it. It should be simple - to enter the games you have to be regularly tested for 12 months leading up to the games, and a biological passport will be kept on all athletes. Samples will also be kept and tested with new methods in another 10 years, and medals recalled. Countries with athletes found to be doping will pay for it all.

I think we are getting to the stage where the line of what constitutes doping and what doesn't is becoming so blurred by medical science its almost a pointless exercise. What constitutes doping? Taking a performance enhancing substance? or just certain substances from an ever changing list? I mean they sell big tubs of creatine in the supermarket nowadays ffs.

Let them eat drugs i say.

Er, no.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Could it be 50 hp nano-oatboards hidden about the swimming costume? Or do they just have go-faster stripes on the cossies?

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Chinese table tennis "child prodigy" looks set to take Gold.

Is WD40 a banned substance?