{"id":22830,"date":"2012-07-30T13:35:44","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T10:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=22830"},"modified":"2012-07-30T13:35:44","modified_gmt":"2012-07-30T10:35:44","slug":"16-year-old-shiwen-yes-extraordinary-400m-medley-world-record-22830","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/16-year-old-shiwen-yes-extraordinary-400m-medley-world-record-22830\/","title":{"rendered":"16 year old Shiwen Ye’s extraordinary 400m medley world record"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There were many astonishing things about 16-year-old Shiwen Ye\u2019s world record breaking victory in the 400 metres individual medley on Saturday.<\/h1>\n
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\u00a0But nothing was more remarkable than that her split time for the final 50m of the freestyle leg was quicker than that of Ryan Lochte in the men\u2019s race earlier that same evening. It was the first time that had happened in Olympic\u00a0history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When Lochte swam to gold, leaving Michael Phelps far in his wake in fourth, he clocked a final 50m freestyle time of 29.10sec.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In her race, Ye went surging through the water, past world champion Elizabeth Beisel, and recorded a final 50m time of 28.93. \u201cYeah, we were talking about that at dinner,\u201d Lochte said. \u201cIt is pretty impressive. She\u2019s fast. If she was there with me, she might have beat me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The scary thing, or at least one of the scary things, for Hannah Miley and the rest of the world\u2019s women medley swimmers, is that the 400m medley is not even Ye\u2019s strongest event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She swims in the heats of the 200m medley on Monday morning, an event in which she is the world champion, having won the title in Shanghai last summer as a 15-year-old.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She thinks she can get better, too. \u201cThere\u2019s much room for improvement,\u201d Ye said. \u201cIt\u2019s true for breaststroke I am lagging behind but I think my freestyle result is also not that good.<\/p>\n

“Usually I\u2019m very bad at turning. This is one of my worst basic skills, but turning is a very important skill, therefore I was practising my turns before the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another scary thing is that her time of 4min 28.43sec not just broke the world record, but did so by more than a second.<\/p>\n

The previous best of 4-29.45 had been recorded by Stephanie Rice in the Olympic final four years ago, and that done with the aid of a polyurethane suit, which has since been banned. It was an incredible performance and one, therefore, that drew attention to its own credibility.<\/p>\n

Chinese swimming has such a shameful history of doping that any remarkable achievement by one of its athletes is inevitably met with cynicism. In the 1990s more than 40 swimmers tested positive for doping.<\/p>\n

In the 1994 world swimming championships, China won an improbable 12 gold medals and later that year seven swimmers tested positive for steroids at the Asian Games. At the following Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, they won just one gold.<\/p>\n

Just this weekend, Chen Zhanghao, the doctor with the Chinese Olympic team at the Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona Games, told Australia\u2019s Sydney Morning Herald newspaper he had tested hormones, blood doping and steroids on about 50 elite athletes.<\/p>\n

While the Chinese swimming authorities insist that their sports has cleaned itself up, five swimmers were banned for failing a test in 2009 and, even more worryingly, 16-year-old Li Zhesi tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test on March 31 of this year.<\/p>\n

Li had won gold as part of the 4x100m freestyle team in 2009 and might have been in London had she not failed the drugs test.<\/p>\n

Patrick Miley, Hannah\u2019s father and coach, said he had been surprised by Ye\u2019s time. \u201cIt was a remarkable performance,\u201d he said. Was it credible, though, beating Lochte in that final split? \u201cShe is an excellent freestyle swimmer,\u201d was all Miley said in answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese got it right this time,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot control what other people do. The sport is really exciting and amazing things do happen.<\/p>\n

“This swimmer has progressed the event. I had a conversation with the sporting director of Scottish swimming four or five years ago in which I said I thought 4.25 was something that would be there in the not too distant future, that it would happen in my lifetime. Everything progresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with her Chinese rival swimming quicker than Lochte, Miley could have made the podium if she had hit the personal best she was seeking.<\/p>\n

\u201cHannah\u2019s only disappointment will be that she wanted to swim a time that was the best she had ever swum. And it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is that that time would have put her on the podium. That is why she is hard on herself. I mean she came here in the trials and did a time that would have won her the bronze medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 400m is Miley\u2019s stronger distance and things are not going to get easier racing against Ye in the 200m. Her father, though, believes that with the pressure off, Miley is still capable of competing with the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has the 200m medley to come and she will enjoy it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is from a different perspective which might just allow her to do something very special.\u201d<\/p>\n

London 2012 Olympics News: Rebecca Adlington’s a fighter say parents<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Rebecca Adlington won bronze medal in the 400m freestyle in Aquatics centre in a tense, compelling race.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From lane eight, the 23-year-old started hard but then drifted out to sixth. As the field slowed, she began to remorselessly work her way up it, picking them off one by one before surging through in the final 100m to take third place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“She was amazing,” said her mother Kay Adlington. “It was not her best event, we all know that. She didn’t feel great in the morning. She had a difficult heat, there were difficult circumstances but you always know with Becky that she’s a fighter, that she will battle.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“She said the crowd was amazing, they really lifted her. It just an awesome result for her.”<\/p>\n

London 2012 Olympics News: Short News<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Women’s marathon<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Scot Freya Murray<\/strong> has been selected to replace Paul Radcliffe, after the world record holder pulled out with a foot injury. The 29-year-old was named as a reserve in April and has continued her preparation since then in case she was needed to run. “My thoughts go out to Paula, who has been extremely supportive towards me throughout this process. I knew there was a chance I would be competing which has helped,” said Murray.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

TABLE TENNIS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table tennis is a lot about momentum and Dimitrij Ovtcharov has exactly that as he moves to 10-4, giving him six game points. Paul Drinkhall fights back, though, taking the next four points and forcing mistakes from his opponent.<\/p>\n

This is tense and the nervous German calls a time-out to rethink his tactics. “You are only allowed one time-out per match, so to take it so early shows Ovtcharov knows this is a pivotal moment,” says Matthew Syed.<\/p>\n

It pays off for Ovtcharov, too. He despatches a fierce forehand winner to take the first game. Even so, Drinkhall has shown he is in this match.<\/p>\n

FENCING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great Britain’s Corinna Lawrence is jabbing and moving on the yellow piste against Chile’s Caterin Braco Aranguiz in the indivdiual epee and she leads 9-5 at the end of the second period.<\/p>\n

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SWIMMING – Miley through to the 200m medley semis<\/strong><\/p>\n

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China’s Ye Shiwen <\/strong>cruises home in a winning time of 2.08.90 ahead of Kirsty Covenrty in second and Stephanie Rice. Great Britain’s Hannah Miley<\/strong> is four hundredths behind Rice though and qualifies as the 10th fastest across the five heats with 2.12.27. Ye Shiwen is the one to beat though.<\/p>\n

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ROWING<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Well, Romania, Belarus and Czech Republic are not going to catch Great Britain,<\/strong> who are coasting into the semi-final of the men’s four.<\/strong> It will be interesting to see how their time compares to how the Australians went in heat one, but qualification is what matters.<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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