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More or Less

How extraordinary is Ye Shiwen?

More or Less

BBC

News Commentary, Science, Mathematics, News

4.63.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2012

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There was controversy this week after Ye Shiwen, a young Chinese swimmer, won the 400 metre individual medley in fine style. A US swimming coach called the performance "disturbing", implying that she may have cheated. More or Less investigates the numbers and finds there's no statistical smoking gun.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to more or less.

0:02.4

If Radio 4 is the Olympic Games, we're the Beach Volleyball.

0:06.8

This week we'll be asking whether the news that homelessness has risen by 25% means that

0:12.0

homelessness has risen by 25%.

0:15.2

We'll be looking for the most dangerous place in crime drama, and TV's Jan Wong will

0:20.0

be here as promised to answer one of your numbers and questions.

0:24.1

What's it all about?

0:25.1

Well here's a clue.

0:26.8

Can you identify this musical introduction?

0:31.6

What about this one?

0:33.8

And this?

0:34.8

We'll give you the answers later in the programme, but first the Olympics, and there was controversy

0:40.8

this week after Yishio Wan, a young Chinese swimmer, won the 400 metre individual medley in

0:46.6

fine style.

0:48.3

But then the head of the US Swimming Coaches Association, who incidentally isn't part

0:52.4

of the US team, called that performance, disturbing.

0:56.1

And the swimmer was forced to deny that she'd been taking drugs.

0:58.7

Well, Wesley Stevenson's here, let's just remind ourselves what happened in that race.

1:05.3

So at first no one was dominating, so through the butterfly and the backstroke stages were

1:10.5

then in the third stage, the breaststroke, things started to take shape, the American swimmer

1:15.0

as the Biesel started to pull away, and no one had really mentioned Yishio Wan at this

1:19.6

point.

...

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