LONDON: Sun Yang hit out at critics suspicious of China's performances in the Olympic pool after his sensational world record to win the men's 1500m freestyle gold on Saturday.
Fingers have been pointing at China following 16-year-old Ye Shiwen's astonishing world record final split in the women's 400m medley on the opening night of the meet, which provoked a storm of speculation in the Western media.
Swimming's world governing body FINA said there was "no factual basis" for speculation Ye's Olympic medley double had been fuelled by banned drugs and that she had been tested on four occasions in the last 12 months.
Sun, 20, became irritated when he was questioned about China's performances at his post-final news conference.
"People think China has so many gold medals because of doping and other substances, but I can tell you it is because of hard work," he said.
"It is all down to training and hard work that we have results.
"Chinese are not weaker than those in other countries."
Asked if he was angry about allegations, Sun snapped:"If you hear critics about athletes from your country, how would you feel?"
John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches' Association, raised suspicions about the authenticity of her swims, but Ye said there was nothing untoward.
"There is no problem with doping, the Chinese team has a firm policy so there is no problem with that," she said.
Sun, who prepared for the Olympics in Australia under Grant Hackett's former mentor Denis Cotterell, won his second gold medal of the meet -- and China's fifth gold.
He became the first Chinese man to win Olympic swimming gold with his 400m freestyle victory.
Sun hit the wall in the 1500m in 14min 31.02sec, bettering his own mark of 14:34.14 when he broke Australian Hackett's iconic 10-year record at last year's Shanghai world championships.
Ye won the medley double and world champion Jiao Liuyang won the women's 200m butterfly final for China's other swimming golds.
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