China’s most influential newspaper on Thursday hit back against doping suspicions levelled at gold medal winning swimmer Ye Shiwen, accusing Western media of “deeply ingrained prejudice”.
Ye Shiwen, 16, captured the women’s 400m individual medley title in a world record time, swimming faster than Men’s champion Ryan Lochte in the final stage of the race.
But her victory was marred by suspicions of doping after the head of the World Swimming Coaches Association said the achievement was “impossible”.
The People’s Daily Newspaper — the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party — dismissed suspicions about Ye’s performance as part of a campaign to discredit China’s sporting progress.
“Deeply ingrained prejudices lead some Western media into blind ignorance,” the paper said.
“Attempts to discredit Chinese athletes are a miscalculation which will not affect the morale of Chinese athletes.
“China’s sporting progress is the result of Chinese efforts, and ungrounded statements won’t damage China’s image, or obstruct the progress of Chinese sport,” the paper said.
Chinese web users have also blasted Western media for raising suspicions over Ye, who won a second Olympic gold in the 200m medley on Tuesday.
“Well done, Ye Shiwen,” posted one under the name Lookingatearthfromafar, “the West’s suspicion is inevitable. I agree Westerners are always arrogant.”
China’s anti-doping chief Jiang Zhixue said in London on Monday that the country’s swimmers had undergone nearly 100 drug tests since they arrived in Britain for the Olympics.
“I think it is not proper to single Chinese swimmers out once they produce good results. Some people are just biased,” he said.