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The Tale of Two Teenage Swimmers

Two female swimmers have been attracting all the headlines in the Aquatics Centre at London 2012 over the last few days. One Chinese swimmer has broken world-records and set faster times than her male equivalents, whilst a Lithuanian has just won the first Gold medal her country has ever won in the pool. The truly extraordinary thing is they are 16 and 15-years-old respectively.

Ye Shiwen: Faster than the Men?

Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen (pictured above left) shocked the world of swimming on Saturday when she smashed the world record for the 400m individual medley. She broke her own personal best by more than five seconds and, most incredibly, she swum the final 50m faster than the winner of the men's event. All this at 16-years-old.

However, her performances have been so astounding that some figures in swimming are questioning whether they are a little too good to be true. She is at the centre of a row over doping, with a top coach accusing her of taking performance-enhancing drugs, and others rushing to her defence.

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