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.

Her performance was so fast, that leading US coach John Leonard described it as "disturbing", and claimed it reminded him of East German swimmers in the 1980s who were infamous for doping and many of whom have since gone through substance abuse treatment. However, there is no evidence against her and she has been tested for banned substances numerous times since arriving in London.

She has understandably denied the allegations, saying: "My results come from hard work and training and I would never use any banned drugs. The Chinese people have clean hands". Other experts have backed her up, with former Olympic champion Ian Thorpe describing how young athletes can take huge amounts of time off their personal best within a year.

Indeed, medical commission chairman for the International Olympic Committee, Arne Ljungqvist, summed it up best, when he condemned the speculation: "To raise suspicion immediately when you see an extraordinary performance - to me it is against the fascination of sport".

Ruta Meilutyte: Record-Breaker at 15

A second amazing story emerged from the pool last night as a 15-year-old Lithuanian spectacularly won the gold medal in the women's 100m breaststroke. It was the first gold medal Lithuania have ever won in swimming and shocked the favourites for the race.

Ruta Meilutyte (pictured above right) has a British connection, as she lives in Plymouth and still goes to college in the town in the south-west of England. She moved to Britain three years ago and was quickly picked up by British swimming coach Jon Rudd. He described how when he first saw her, "her breaststroke was pretty tidy and we tidied it up even more...She is a talented and vigilant worker. When you've got talent and work ethic you've got a great kid".

As for Meilutyte herself, she was too stunned to say much, clearly still overcome with emotion, and only managing to stammer: "I can't believe it. It's too much for me" in the post-swim interview.

Both Ruta Meilutyte and Ye Shiwen have the chance to win more medals in other races this week, so make sure you look out for them and follow their amazing stories.

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