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capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> welcome to "bbc world news" live from our studios overlooking the olympic park in london. and coming up in this program -- day four of the olympics. the doping controversy of a china star ye shiwen. the british olympic association defends. its chairman says she's not a drug scheme. india affecting 600 million people. and trapping hundreds of miners on the ground. mitt romney takes his campaign to poland on the final leg of a

controversial overseas tour. and we take a journey across london to see how the transport system is working. million and welcome to our studio overlooking the olympic park and we haven't got those sunny skies that we've got used to but that. so far, there's 120 medals awarded and 26 records have been broken. the u.s. and china are in lead of the medal tally but china is ahead on those precious golds. one of those golds went to the sensational young swimmer ye shiwen whose record-breaking performance on saturday has

sparked of the game's first real doping controversy. there's been an angry reaction on social networking sites in china after an american coach described ye's swim as disturbing but the head of the british association has defended her saying she's not on drugs. and also within the last hour or so, the british olympic association chairman said the chinese teenager are not on drugs and said ye passed the drug tests. and the international olympic committee has been setting out its position on doping but wouldn't comment it specifically. >> these are the world's best athletes competing at a very high level. we've seen records broken all over the place. in terms of athletes them, as you probably know in the final

first five athletes are tested compulsory and two others. it's really -- we have a very, very strong drug testing program and we're very confident if they are a cheat, we will catch them as we already have done. >> ok. well, let's go to beijing now for more. our correspondent is there. martin, let's start with the kind of reaction that you're seeing to this controversy. >> well, when she won that gold medal, she became an overnight sensation in china. she became the golden girl of the olympics and you can see her picture on the front of all the newspapers here, but sadly the day after these suggestions, accusations were made that doping may have been involved, there's been a huge amount of anger. that's china's equivalent of twitter. most people say this is simply a

case of sour grapes and i also spoke to a senior sports commentator in china and he said the reason this american coach had made these suggestions was simply that china was doing better in the pool. >> going on from that, do you think there's likely to be any real comeback, official comeback from the chinese? at the moment, the social networking sites to really speak their mind? >> well, that's right. we have other official comments but it's been quite measured from senior officials although one did suggest that this was because of jealous, but you have to remember the context, the background to all of this. chinese women has been marred by doping scandals in the past, particularly in the 1990's when almost a dozen top level swimmers were banned after using performance-enhancing drugs. the chinese authority say that they've taken huge steps in order to clean up the sport but

as we have just yesterday, not everybody's convinced. >> all right, marr tip, we'll leave it there. thank you. thank you for being with us, michelle. what's your reaction to this controversy? >> well, this surprises me because we have a situation where there is a huge speculation about whether or not the anti-doping program at the olympic games is going to be able to offensive the drug cheat or is it going to be necessary to analyze those sample as we've seen after the games to look for substances that we don't yet know about so we can verify performances, maybe even up to eight years later. >> so just tell me and for the benefit of our viewers, what is

the procedure? is it clear she will have been tested before the games or it's done on a ran adopt basis? >> well, the announcement by the chinese national olympic employee that they have been testing their -- and certainly the opportunity will be for testing once the athlete has arrive in the games. and as a medal winner, yes, she would be tested but they have the right to test after the -- in the days of the event so they've got a series of samples so they can compare. yes, there will be lots of testing going on, the question is what is the substance being used? can it be detected? or would we have to wait until post games when detection method for those particular drugs are available? but it's a real shame, really, because we expect the best from our athletes.

here's an athlete who's performed at her very best but the limitation of the drug tests means there are speculation. >> thank you very much for joining us, michelle. many people have flocked to the -- to twitter, to comment on the ye shiwen story. here are some of your thoughts so far. phelps breaks the record at 15. it's great. ye shiwen broke the gold, it's disturbing. saying she won that race fair and square. how dare they call her talent disturbing? and mindy says "bolt" smashed the record in beijing and we were amazed and ye shiwen smashed the record and we tout her as a drug cheat.

so all of them are on a pretty similar theme there, considering these controversy as rather unfair. you can now continue have your say on that story or others. if you're a twitter fan, sign up at update on twitter. please use the #londonlive. ok. now some news away from the olympics. a mass siff power failure left thousands of indians without electricity. the grids in the east and northeast are now collapsed the power cuts were affecting 13 states from the west to the east and they come a day after 370 million people were affected by similar cuts across the north of the country. joined now from our dehli

studios by our correspondent. do we know why this is happening? >> at the moment, the authorities here are speculating on why the power may have failed for a second day in a row. they say the priority is to get power back, particularly in major cities and they're estimating in the next three hours or so, they hope power to be restored in major cities. 20 states in india affected by the power grid failures. in the nation's capital, traffic lights aren't working, causing huge chaos on the road. the metro is now partially running but only 20% of the city's metros are running. hundreds of trains across india are stranded on the tracks. and we've also heard that 200 miners trapped in a mine. they're not in danger. they've been moved to a place with an air supply.

but they're not in danger and we've been told they should be restoring electricity to them the next 10-12 hours. so lots of problems across india. the calcutta, the chief minister told government workers to go home because of the power problems there. >> ok, thank you very much. and we'll keep you posted on that story as we get more. let's catch up with all the other olympics news with andrew on the other side of the stadium. >> ye shiwen's been making the headlines in swimming but surely, that's sport's biggest headline maker of all time is michael phelps. he's back in action later. we'll see if he can take the 200 meter butterfly gold. he won eight gold medals in the last olympics. london seen him lose out in all medals of the individual medley. he lost his title to that in ryan lochte and then had to settle for silver in the four by 100-meter relay.

that medal took his career total to 17, leaving him one short of the all-time biggest career hall of 18 that was won by a russian gymnast. princes william and harry have been cheering in the olympics. this is where it starts getting quite interesting the hunt for medals. the best three scores from each country counts for their overall total. mary king and tina cook complete the team and second behind germany, ahead of sweden. so there's plenty to look forward to on day four in london. in all, there are 15 gold medals up for grabs. in fencing the men's individual event also takes place. and china's arena will hope to

emulate the men's team event. there are two more potential medals to be snatched in the weight lifting and we will bring you every medal from every nation here on "bbc world news." >> all right, andrew, thanks very much, thank you. this is "bbc news" and still ahead in this program, we look at the rise of beach volleyball from novelty event to the most sought after tickets at the game. now the road to the olympics had some amazing moments. muhammad ali then known as cassius clay won boxing gold. and an australian smashed the world record in the process. but for today's post cut, allen johnson remembers one who showed the world a clean pair of heels at the 1960 olympic games. >> when the modern olympics team here, they play themselves out

in an ancient setting and those 1960 games are best remembered for the marathon which finished in this place in the shadow of the coliseum. and among those lining up at the start was a small unknown ethiopian. the only thing remarkable about him at that moment was the fact that he had no shoes on. he was going to run the olympic marathon in bare feet. but this was baby bak irk la and he was about to show the world what he could do, shoe or no shoe. and there was some symbolic edge in what was going to happen. back in the days of the dictator loose lena, italian troops had occupied ethiopia, but here in rome in a new post-war italy, a -- he would steal the olympic show. the race was a runner's night in

someplaces, soldiers lit the way with burning torches and the ethiopian destroyed the field. he broke the world record and won africa's first ever olympic gold medal. and in this place in the roman night, he danced with the light. those games will always be associated with his extraordinary barefoot run. >> this is "bbc news" live from london, the headlines. china's 16-year-old swimming prodigy ye shiwen denies she's used performance-enhancing drugs after an american coach calls her gold medal swim impossible. the electricity grid in india failed for a second day running, leaving 600 million people without power across the north and east of the country.

now in syria, a battle to control the strategic city of aleppo is continuing. sources are reported to be bombarded the area. activists say more than 25 people died in aleppo on monday. joining me from beirut is our correspondent jim muir. i gave just a couple of details there. could you bring us up to date with the latest? >> well, conflicting claims by government and rebels as to the state of an area which is on the southwest side of the city. it's a very important place for the rebels because they've made a stronghold there. it's quite a packed area. now the government is saying that it is pursuing the remnants of armed groups there and inflicting heavy lots on them but the rebels are denying that the government has got control there. in fact, rebel commanders are saying the government kept trying to attack there but was

being constantly driven back. elsewhere, activists are reporting more shelling on various areas to the south and to the northeast of the city where there are again, rebel pockets. so it's really quite hard between these conflicting versions to get a clear idea of what happened on the ground. yes, there's shelling, there is bombardment by helicopter gun ships, etc., but what is happening on the ground in terms of movement is subject to these conflicting claims. >> there's been a fair amount of what i might call regional diplomatic activity. but you've had this phone administration between the prime minister and president obama, the iranians have said they're willing to activate these defense pact they have with syria. quite a lot happening there. >> that's right, yes. you get the impression that regional and international are eyeing syria up and weighing

whether to step in. the iranians have been anointed to leaders suggesting they might get more involved as the threat of the regime really intensifies in syria. there have been statements saying that iran or syria's friends will not allow regime change to be forced there. so as this crisis deepens and as the regime becomes more and more serious threat, we can expect these hints, if not realities of outside involvement to become stronger and stronger. >> the interesting thing about that, of course is that these hinns as you call, coming from immediate neighbors, and ones beginning to set aside anything that's happening as well at the united nations level or international level. >> that's right. i mean, the community has shown itself to be basically paralyzed by big power differences when you can't get the americans and russians to agree on any course

of action. then the u.n. is effectively stymied as a potential source of intervention of some sort. this crisis has gathered pace despite the lumbering of diplomatic efforts or at least talks in its wake. so it really is down to the conflict on the ground and predictions of a kind of sectarian civil war with mounting regional involvement, the kind of proxy war disintegration and so on. they are closer to reality. >> all right, jim, thank you very much. jim muir. now u.s. presidential candidate mitt romney is on poland on the final leg of the three-nation overseas tour. earlier in israel, mr. romney called jerusalem the israeli capital and said the differences in culture power israel's economic success compared with the palestinians. mr. romney wrapped his tour with

a keynote address if warsaw that praised poland's economy. >> it's an honor to be in this place also. this is a nation with extraordinary heritage that's crafting a remarkable future at a time of widespread economic slowdown and stagnation, your economy last year outperformed all the other nations of europe. quite an accomplishment. i began this partnership in great britain and ended it in poland, the two bookends of nato, history's greatest military alliance, it has kept the peace for over half a century. while i was at downing street, i thought back to the days of winston churchill, the man who first spoke of the iron curtain that had desearched across europe. what an honor to stand in poland among the men and women who helped lift that curtain. >> mitt romney there talking in

poland just a little while ago. one of the main concerns about the lip games was whether london's already congested transport system was able to help visitors. an estimated three million extra journeys are being made every day. so how well is the city's public transport system coping? >> big ben is chiming this morning. it's been so we've given ourselves two hours. can we get to the olympic park by quarter to 9:00? ♪ the organizers of london 2012 have described this as the first public transport games. so no cause for us. there are more than 8,000 of

these so-called bikes for hire and people have been encouraged to psych toll the olympic park. but cycling in london can be a little hairy. and i'm no bradley wiggins. and 7:30. i'm time for something a little less strenuous. this is a 2012 games river bus. a journey from greenwich taking only five minutes. i thought we would take the boat because i thought it would probably be -- >> we're on our way really early. >> we're british. we'll go. [laughter] >> london bridge and we're off. >> 10 past 8:00.

height of the roush. -- rush hour. people have be encouraged to work from home. >> it was definitely busy than usual, more people but i think it's final >> no option to stay at home and work. did you think about that? >> i thought about it here but i've got a job here. everything seems to work well. >> good luck. >> we've got about a 15-minute walk. the next stop, the tube. more than three million people use the london undergrounds every day. we're heading to one of the busiest stations. on average, 96,000 passengers pass through here every morning. but on our journey, it was pretty clear. it's half past 8:00 and you have to say for a monday morning in the middle of rush hour, this is remarkably quiet. we're going to get on. >> before we set off, we found

it really easy. >> we're way up on traveling. >> so here we are, strapped. we've made it. e've done it in less than journey to the center of london in rush hour, that was remarkably easy. >> graham satchel made it there in good time. beach volleyball is one of the real success stories of modern olympics. at its inaugural appearance, it was seen as a novelty but here in london, tickets are among the most sought after. australia's veteran gold medalist natalie took watched the game involved and she caught up with tom duncan. >> there might be all the familiar signs of summer in london but while this looks like a day at the beach, there's not usually a grain of sand in

sight. that is until now. beach volleyball has arrived in the city. >> pretty cool. look at that. the london eye. apparently, it's the best view in town of the beth volleyball stadium. >> veteran australian olympic natalie cook is used to competing on some of the world's most famous coastline. she won gold in australia during the sydney olympics. having won bronze at the atlanta games four years earlier. now, at 37, she's the oldest competitor on the stand but certainly still having fun. >> very proud that we qualified. we qualified very late. only a month ago. so the excitement is very high. when you get your australian green and gold uniform, it's the most proudest moment of your career. >> london will have her most unusual playing experiences. competition at the games this year is nestled between some of the city's most iconic landmarks

of sanded imported from the parade. it's the best beach volleyball court of the olympics and the closest this part of the city has come to a beach culture complete with mexican waves and bikinis. by competing here, natalie becomes the first beach volleyballer to compete in every game since the sport made its olympic debut in atlanta 16 years ago. back then, it was considered a -- but now, it's the hottest tick in town. >> prince harry, one of the highest ticketholders. it really is a sport that captures people's minds. it captures their heart. i think everyone plays it at the beach and they go socially and are amazed at how we can do some of the things we do. >> natalie has seen the popularity of beach volleyball spike every year. while that trend continues as it

moves to brazil, these games may well be her last. >> you've been watching london live from the bbc. we'll be back after a small break. break. there's plenty more to come.