Olympic doping fears - Diminished by suspicion

The extent to which sport has been diminished by drug abuse can be seen in the innuendo surrounding the amazing performance by Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen in London. Unfortunately Chinese swimmers’ failure rate in doping tests has led to inevitable suspicions.

The reality is that Ye Shiwen has been regularly tested and has not been found to have used proscribed drugs. Apart at all from observing the simple principle of a person being innocent until proven otherwise the almost automatic suspicion seems to make it impossible to celebrate exceptional achievement in sport.

It removes too the possibility of possibility ... if we are to leaven every victory, every record with the suspicion of drug misuse we close the door on the very dreams that make sport such an alluring force for good.