QUESTIONS ARE NOT RACIST

I 've always loved the Olympics.  Growing up,  watching those huge East German and Russian women with moustaches regularly winning their events all the while everyone "knowing" that they were cheating by using drugs.  (That and the Russian judges always scoring the communist countries better than the democratic ones were just part of the whole experience.)  The good guys and the bad guys.

Since the Rome Olympics 1994 we have had better drug testing and the WADA to enforce abuses.  But there were long periods when the Chinese were dominating track and swimming and then turning up positive for steroid use after the games.  Striping an athlete/country of medals after the fact is a way to deal with it - but I think it takes away from watching the games knowing that some of the winners will later be disqualified. It ruins the purity of the experience.

Now we have a young Chinese woman, Ye Shiwen, 16, swimming the last leg of a 400m race at a speed greater than a record holding male swimmer.  So eyebrows are raised, questions are being asked and the Olympic committee and others are calling it racist.  That's ridiculous.  If the Chinese have a history of drug use - one that extends to just 10 years ago, and they have a young woman swimming faster than a seasoned male swimmer, the system should kick in. 

I agree that all the sarcastic comments and innuendo are not sportsmanlike.  These issues should be taken up with the officials and the testing and whatever else should be done without prejudice.  However, to expect people to accept a super human effort as just "good coaching" is pretty lame considering the actions of the Chinese teams in the recent past.

The chairman of the IOC medical commission and WADA vice-president Arne Ljungqvist, was quoted as saying that if a surprise performance is immediately suspected as being a cheat, that "sport is in danger for sure." He - and several of his IOC colleagues - are worried about the "charm of competitive sport" being lost if exceptional performances are shrouded in suspicion.
I don't disagree in my heart, but the sad truth is that these cheats tend to go on for years before the questions are answered.  If we don't ask the questions, well that's the real danger to sports and the athletes.