By Karolos Grohmann

LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen's record-breaking gold medal performance should not be immediately associated with doping because that ruins the charm of sport, the International Olympic Committee medical chief said on Monday.

Ye crushed her opponents in the women's 400 individual medley on Saturday with an eye-popping performance, unleashing a sprint finish in her last two lengths that would have beaten Americans Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, two of the world's fastest men.

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 Australia's Stephanie Rice four years ago.

"I say no," Arne Ljungqvist told reporters when asked whether her dazzling swim had raised suspicions of doping. "I have personally no reason other than to applaud until I have further facts."

"Should a sudden raise in performance or a win be primarily suspect of being a cheat then sport is in danger because this ruins the charm of sport," said Ljungqvist, who has 40 years experience in anti-doping.

"Should a sudden raise in performance occur in a particular person we could regard this as a reason to do it (target testing). But it would be tragic if that would be the primary reason for testing."

YOUNG GENERAL

Ye, already nicknamed the "young general" back home after shaving an amazing 5 seconds off her personal best in her gold medal race, can win another medal after posting the fastest qualifying time in the preliminaries of the women's 200 meters individual medley on Monday.

She also brushed aside doping suspicions saying Chinese athletes were clean.

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

Many people viewed her performance with suspicion and even British broadcaster BBC presenter Claire Balding asked: "How many questions will there be about how someone who can swim so much faster than she has ever swum before?"

The BBC later denied she was suggesting there was something suspect in her performance.

The doping talk related to Ye quickly triggered a reaction in China with bloggers backing the swimmer.

"It's not classy at all to say that record-breakers have taken drugs. It's just jealousy," wrote one user on Sina Weibo, China's popular microblogging site.

"She's just a child. Don't be so beastly to her," wrote another.

However, one user did express doubt at Ye's breakthrough performance: "Maybe the Chinese have discovered some sort of new drug, for how could she suddenly have become this strong?"

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Nick Mulvenney in London; Editing by Alison Williams)