A senior figure in the Olympic Games has warned against “irresponsible” and “destructive” judgement of the Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen.

It comes after a leading coach described her world-record breaking race as “disturbing”.

Olympic Village Deputy Mayor Duncan Goodhew won gold in swimming at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

He says competitors are innocent until proven guilty and there are always “incredible improvements” in performance at large sporting events.

The International Olympic Committee medical chief said yesterday that the record-breaking gold medal performance should not be immediately associated with doping because that ruins the charm of sport.

Ye crushed her opposition in the women 400 individual medley on Saturday with an eye-popping performance.

She also became the first female swimmer to break a world record since the ban of hi-tech suits wiping off more than a second off the world record set by Stephanie Rice of Australia 4 years ago.

“My results come from hard work and training and I would never used any banned drugs. The Chinese people have clean hands” Ye told reporters.

Ye is in action tonight in the 200 metre individual medley final, after last night breaking Stephanie Rice’s Olympic record in the event by .06 seconds.