Ye breaks record in 400m medley

Ye Shiwen of China has won the gold medal in the women’s 400m individual medley final in a new world record time of 4:28.43.

Ye took an astonishing 1.02secs off the mark set by defending champion Stephanie Rice in one of the performance-enhancing suits four years ago.

Ye covered the final 100m in an astonishing 58.68 and Great Britain’s Hannah Miley admitted she had been taken by surprise.

She said: “That was very, very fast, and it’ll be intriguing to look at the analysis and stuff because there are a lot of things that they’ve obviously taken from us senior ones and learnt from.  “And, for us, it’s an opportunity to learn from them.

 “It’s just something that it’s an absolute a privilege to be part of that race.  “It’s not very often you get to swim in the same water as a world-record holder. It would’ve been lovely to have been up there and challenge that but, at the end of the day, that performance was what I could give and I do apologise to everybody that it wasn’t what everyone expected.

 “But, for me, I gave it my all and I can’t ask for more than that.”

 Of the crowd at the Aquatics Centre, Miley said: “Absolutely amazing.

 “I admit I felt quite nervous going into the call room. But then hearing the crowd cheer for Fran (Halsall) and Elly (Gandy), it just took my nerves away. It felt really inspiring to have the crowd lift you up to some place that you feel these guys are here supporting me.

 “It’s a very rare opportunity that us GB swimmers get to have.

 “So, I’m really, really happy and it’s just an experience that’ll live with me forever.”