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Crazy Chinese Doping Conspiracy Theory
 

olafenizer's picture
IB
(King Kong, 1,005
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 10:30pm
london-2012-gold-medal-thumb1-640x426.jpg

As I was watching and reading about Ye Shiwen, the Chinese swimmer who blew away her personal best time and set the world record in the 400m individual medley in London, I wasn’t really surprised when discussions began as to whether she was doping. Be it sour grapes or a legitimate accusation, the issue always comes up. But then I remember reading about how the Chinese athletes athletes don’t eat anything other than government-provided food. I put on my tin foil hat and started thinking about the possibility that China is engaged in a systematic effort to juice their athletes.

The Chinese government doesn’t joke around when it comes to its athletes. The country has an entire government bureau dedicated to sports. Athletes are picked at a young age and sent off to live at government academies where their entire lives revolve around their particular discipline.

This is where my theory starts. The Chinese government has complete control over its athletes, and would leave nothing to chance when it comes to ensuring that they bring home gold medals. Given the substantial effort it, unofficially of course, puts into hacking the networks of foreign companies and governments, I think it is completely plausible that the top Chinese scientists are hard at work developing new ways to juice their athletes in ways the current anti-doping agencies can’t detect.

But wouldn’t the athletes have objections to taking performance-enhancing drugs? Of course, but that assumes the athletes actually know they are taking them. Under the guise of protecting the team from accidentally eating food tainted with the various chemicals that time and again seem to find their way into the food in China, the athletes eat only what the government provides.

"The food is totally reliable here at the base," said Ye Zhennan, manager of the national gymnastics team, during a media session last Friday. "But no one knows whether it is safe or not in other places. So we don't allow them to eat out.

They aren't even allowed to eat at the cafeteria in London.

With the food supply completely under the control of the government, it is free to add whatever it wishes. State-owned companies do the R&D and tests on an in-house team of human guinea pigs to make sure that the final product, when added to an athlete’s food, isn’t detected by the current tests. The athletes and coaches are none the wiser. They are simply pawns in the larger political game of winning as many gold medals as possible as a part of the larger strategy to project China as the world’s next all around superpower.

What are your thoughts? Is this idea just worthless drivel, or do you think it has some merit to it?

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Comments

wannabeaballer's picture

I've been a competitive

O
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 10:55pm

I've been a competitive swimmer for 15 years of my life. There is no way someone can accelerate after 300M of a race the way that Ye Shiwen did without their heart exploding. It's like a marathon runner running like Carl Lewis the last 100M. It just doesn't happen naturally.

Gun Control Discussion

El_Mono's picture

(No subject)

IB
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 10:57pm

img

Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards. - Tacitus

Dr. Nick Riviera: Hey, don't worry. You don't have to make up stories here. Save that for court!

That_Aston's picture

China's involvement in

CF
(Gorilla, 574
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 10:58pm

China's involvement in anything should draw suspicion.

Here to learn and hopefully pass on some knowledge as well. SB if I helped.

CompBanker's picture

I'm not entirely sure I buy

PE
(Almost Human, 8,508
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:05pm

I'm not entirely sure I buy the doping conspiracy. She beat the world record by 1 second in a 270 second event. That's essentially .33% faster. That doesn't seem too ridiculous to me. Am I missing something here?

CompBanker

Beretta's picture

She's already been tested and

ST
(Orangutan, 358
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:07pm

She's already been tested and it was negative, aka no she was not doping.

Haters gonna hate. If the girl was not Chinese, no one would even question her. But since she is, all these ridic conspiracies come up. Her results are essentially results of years of military style training.

Maybe I should start questioning Phelps. I doubt he would have gotten 8 medals without doping.

J_monkey's picture

Even if she was not Chinese,

O
(Baboon, 165
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:17pm

Even if she was not Chinese, there would be questions. She beat the men's time for god's sake.

I say definitely doping.

CompBanker, it's not the world record that raises the red flags. It was how fast she was after the last turn.

melvvvar's picture

it is well known that teams

(King Kong, 1,693
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:27pm

it is well known that teams sabotage each other by putting doping traces into opponents' food. it is just as well that they control all of the food to prevent such shenanigans. if they do come up positive, everyone can be damned sure it wasn't an outside sabotage job.

but if we are going to point the smelly finger at china, let's not forget jose canseco, mark mcgwire, lance armstrong, floyd landis, marion jones, etc.

boomboy's picture

Americans always try to find

IB
(Chimp, 14
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:30pm

Americans always try to find ways to come up with excuses. If our founding father were here, he would already have given her a US citizenship.

In the end, haters are gonna hate. USA is just pissed off that China is actually a major competitor.

Abdel's picture

CompBanker: I'm not entirely

O
(Neanderthal, 2,064
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:31pm
CompBanker:

I'm not entirely sure I buy the doping conspiracy. She beat the world record by 1 second in a 270 second event. That's essentially .33% faster. That doesn't seem too ridiculous to me. Am I missing something here?

She's 16 and she's faster than the fastest male swimmer.

Saul_Villa's picture

Beretta: She's already been

 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:37pm
Beretta:

She's already been tested and it was negative, aka no she was not doping.

Haters gonna hate. If the girl was not Chinese, no one would even question her. But since she is, all these ridic conspiracies come up. Her results are essentially results of years of military style training.

Maybe I should start questioning Phelps. I doubt he would have gotten 8 medals without doping.

She was tested, as all athletes that place, but the results don't come in till like a month later. If she didn't then damn that girls has a great sporting career ahead of her. What China does with their athletes sure is in a grey area but many would argue it's better for the athletes because they don't have to worry about making a living and just focus on their sport.

Personal wealth is not how much you have in the bank or the worth of your portfolio. But, rather how you've used the wealth to make your life and those around you better.

CompBanker's picture

Abdel: CompBanker: I'm not

PE
(Almost Human, 8,508
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:39pm
Abdel:
CompBanker:

I'm not entirely sure I buy the doping conspiracy. She beat the world record by 1 second in a 270 second event. That's essentially .33% faster. That doesn't seem too ridiculous to me. Am I missing something here?

She's 16 and she's faster than the fastest male swimmer.

Okay, got it. Thanks for the clarifications guys.

CompBanker

brandon st randy's picture

Beretta: She's already been

PE
(Gorilla, 705
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:48pm
Beretta:

She's already been tested and it was negative, aka no she was not doping.

That only proves that she did not consume the particular substances that are tested by the IOC. The Chinese are known to provide traditional Chinese herbal substances to their athletes. Such substances tend not to show up during testings even thou they artificially boost athletic performances. But then other countries are doing the same. There is an ongoing arm race between the IOC substance testing committee and individual countries as the latter continue working on new and more innovative drug formulas that fly under the IOC radar.

To quote the Art of War, "there is never too much deception in war". Much like wars, the competitions of the Olympics happen on 2 fronts, one of actual foot soldiers battling it out in the field or swimming pools, and then there is the less visible front where strategists experiment in the labs/command centers.

...well, he's no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town!

Gangsta Killah Blood's picture

They are all doping -- the

(Monkey, 40
 
Points)
 on 7/31/12 at 11:45pm

They are all doping -- the ones who get caught are the ones using last year's drugs.

leonrox's picture

I'm Chinese so I'll have a

(Monkey, 41
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:00am

I'm Chinese so I'll have a word.

Most atheletes are all doping. They may remain unanimous all their career if they don't win a title. Therefore, the incentives are HUGE. What's more, the Chinese gov cares so much about winning that they would go beyond what is legal and ethical.

Was she doping? Probably. But you cannot deny she was phenomenal!

I know that diamonds mean money for this art, but that's not the shape of my heart.

Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

Saul_Villa: Beretta: She's

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:02am
Saul_Villa:
Beretta:

She's already been tested and it was negative, aka no she was not doping.

Haters gonna hate. If the girl was not Chinese, no one would even question her. But since she is, all these ridic conspiracies come up. Her results are essentially results of years of military style training.

Maybe I should start questioning Phelps. I doubt he would have gotten 8 medals without doping.

She was tested, as all athletes that place, but the results don't come in till like a month later. If she didn't then damn that girls has a great sporting career ahead of her. What China does with their athletes sure is in a grey area but many would argue it's better for the athletes because they don't have to worry about making a living and just focus on their sport.

It's better for the athletes until they get injured or underperform. I read an article the other day from 2008 describing how their entire lives are predetermined by the government and that if a career ending injury occurs they are simply tossed out of the system.

Gray Fox's picture

-She did not swim faster than

HF
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:02am
swordfish24's picture

If you know anything about

CO
(Baboon, 161
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:15am

I knew that even with all my past failures, if i could make a ton of money and become a big swinging dick, I knew that banking would fill the void inside of my life, that at least for a moment the burden of this conundrum called life would be lifted from

accountspayable's picture

Basically, when Phelps gets a

IB
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:14am
couchy's picture

Definitely cheated. Like

(King Kong, 1,368
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:17am
Babyj18777's picture

Gangsta Killah Blood: They

O
(Orangutan, 283
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:16am
melvvvar's picture

Abdel: CompBanker: I'm not

(King Kong, 1,693
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:19am
J_monkey's picture

Wow, I'm getting so much

O
(Baboon, 165
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:22am
Virginia Tech 4ever's picture

accountspayable: Basically,

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,319
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:23am
YE777's picture

Callus: J_monkey: Wow, I'm

 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:31am
accountspayable's picture

Stephanie Rice improved her

IB
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:39am
J_monkey's picture

Callus: J_monkey: Wow, I'm

O
(Baboon, 165
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:47am
Beretta's picture

I guess "innocent until

ST
(Orangutan, 358
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:48am
SFRE's picture

He or She?

(Monkey, 43
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 12:53am
SirTradesaLot's picture

J_monkey: Callus: J_monke

 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:03am

Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital

My WSO Blog

J_monkey's picture

SirPoopsaLot: J_monkey: C

O
(Baboon, 165
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:07am
SFRE's picture

Doping in the olympics is as

(Monkey, 43
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:07am
J_monkey's picture

double post

O
(Baboon, 165
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:10am
SirTradesaLot's picture

J_monkey: SirPoopsaLot: J

 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:24am

Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital

My WSO Blog

SirTradesaLot's picture

J_monkey: SirPoopsaLot: J

 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:30am

Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital

My WSO Blog

brandon st randy's picture

J_monkey: SirPoopsaLot: J

PE
(Gorilla, 705
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:39am

...well, he's no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town!

Senvik's picture

Not to be a party pooper but

 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:40am

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." - IlliniProgrammer

freeloader's picture

The swimmer's previous

PE
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:49am
ezekiel's picture

There were incidents in the

ST
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 2:28am
byucko's picture

Just discredit the Chinese

CD
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 3:02am
acronym's picture

Watching brainwashed Chinese

CO
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 2:56am

"'In summary, people are morons and who cares. Make a shit ton of money. I've never seen a Ferrari paid for by what people think.' - ANT" -rufiolove

TDSWIM's picture

CompBanker: I'm not entirely

(Orangutan, 316
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 3:05am
blindthoht's picture

I didn't read all the

CO
(Monkey, 35
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 4:07am

couldn't let go of my pair of aces...

melvvvar's picture

if lance could get away with

(King Kong, 1,693
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 4:11am
BanditPandit's picture

oh boy. the quadrennial

O
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 4:18am
Asatar's picture

Havn't read all the comments

O
(Neanderthal, 2,031
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 4:55am

See my other WSO blog posts>

Caffrey's picture

The fact that she improved

 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 5:06am
trazer985's picture

Just a big shout out to our

ST
(King Kong, 1,747
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 5:11am
wannabeaballer's picture

trazer985: Just a big shout

O
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 5:23am

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trazer985's picture

This argument has turned into

ST
(King Kong, 1,747
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 5:34am
OMS's picture

without doping the Olympics

PE
(King Kong, 1,886
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 5:41am

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