Michael Phelps on steroids?
Responding to speculation about Ye Shiwens record-setting 400-meter individual medley victory in the 2012 London Olympics, a Chinese doctor stated that he “suspects” Michael Phelps of doping.
An American swim coach, John Leonard, stirred up an Olympic-size controversy when he called the Chinese 16-year-old’s win “unbelievable,” “disturbing,” and “suspicious,” according to London’s Guardian , and this did not sit well with the former Olympic doctor, Dr. Chen Zhanghao.
The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reported as follows:
“Abnormal?”, asked Chen Zhanghao, who headed the Chinese Olympic medical team in Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona. “America’s Phelps broke seven world records! Is he normal?
“I suspect Phelps, but without evidence, I have to recognise that we should be grounded in facts”…
“The Americans have made many extraordinary performances but without evidence we have kept silent.”
…The Americans are very bad, they do a lot of evil,” he said. “But they don’t talk about themselves.”
Apparently Chinese swimmers were involved in doping through the past because in a related story, the Morning Herald reported that steroids and HGH were considered part of state-sponsored “scientific training” for China’s elite athletes in the 1980s and 1990s.
Chinese officials maintain that its athletes at the 2012 London Olympics are clean.
The Los Angeles Times notes that “If the doctor, Chen Zhanghao, was trying to steer the conversation away from newly minted gold medalist Ye Shiwen and defend the teenager, it came off as clumsy and ill-advised” because of his own apparent involvement with PEDs.
Do you think it is unfair for questions to be raised about either Ye Shiwen’s or Michael Phelp’s achievements without solid evidence of performance-enhancing drugs?
