good evening from london, where the 2012 olympics have been rocked by a huge scandal tonight. eight players from three countries disqualified after trying to lose their matches. an extraordinary move and one that's shocking everybody here. at the same time, the controversy's mounting over ye shiwen, smashing records and raising eyebrows. some accuse her of doping, and chinese blast that it's not only wrong, but racist. joining me tonight for tonight's big story is london olympics chief, lord coe, or sebastian coe. i know you as lord coe. >> thank you. >> it's the right way to address you. >> you can call me sir. >> you must be feeling like, i don't know, the most excited, relieved man in the world right now. it's all gone so smoothly. >> i was excited before it started, i'm now into that sort of, it's got to work. very, very grateful to the -- well, hundreds of thousands of brits that have helped us get this far. and what i never fail to be proud about is that, you know, you know what this area was like. you know, you know where we're doing this interview. this was, you know, this was desolate. and we have now got a thriving community and sport is, you know, sport kicked it all off. >> yeah, we've got pride back in the country, which is great. some big stories developing tonight. one i'm very interested to get your take on, which is the badminton farce. i heard that four got eliminated, saying this is completely unacceptable. what i was pleased about was the chinese reaction. pretty swift to condemn it and say, this isn't part of the olympics. >> it was a good reaction. it was the right reaction. and of course, in fairness, it's from a country that's already staged an olympic game. so maybe once you've staged a games, your whole history changes. your city changes, you look at the world in a different way. and i was really, like you, i was really pleased with the swift response that it was unacceptable. >> it was one of the worst things i've ever watched. >> the sadness of it was, i was in that venue yesterday afternoon, watching three really nail-biting, competitive matches. it was only when i got out of the venue and sort of was driving on to my next -- the next job, that somebody told me what it was -- and yeah, it was depressing. >> if you had been there when it was happening and you saw team after team doing the same thing, do you have any power to actually do something? >> no, not as an organizing committee. that power is vested entirely with the international federation, the international federation hit it hard this morning. they got rid of the eight players. and i think the international olympic committee were watching or would have watched very closely. the international federation made exactly the right call on it. >> one of the other big stories super swimmer. interesting what you said about china having now staged the beijing olympics, maybe changed their own thinking about these things, the credibility facr being much more important. >> i'm always loathe to suddenly look askance and suspiciously at an extraordinary performance in sport. you know, as a teenager, i took four seconds off my 100-meter time in one race. what people tend to forget, of course, even at the age of 19, i'd been doing that for the best part of seven or eight years. so we tend to, you know, the sadness of it is, of course, in a way, we're almost visiting the sins of the parents on the children. i think that in terms of the global approach to drugs in sport, we're in a much more grown-up world. people are prepared to talk about it. there's no -- you know, there's no ambiguity about what the rules are. and i felt actually sorry for this girl, because that was an extraordinary performance. it's not unusual for teenagers to perform at an extraordinarily high level. >> on the subject of drugs, generally, do you feel comfortable that somebody like duane chambers is going to running for team g.b., given that he was a drugs offender. what is your view on this? >> i'm reconstructed on this subject. my first contribution to this debate was back in 1981 at the ioc's congress in germany. he was the first athlete to actually speak, and i had four minutes to talk. i spoke 2 1/2 minutes about the real problems of drugs in sport. i won't ever change my view on that. the difficulty, of course, is that, you know, that these athletes are eligible to come back to the sport after a two-year ban. >> should they be? >> personally, no. but do i think a two-year ban is not long enough? yeah, i don't. i think we should -- we made a mistake of moving from four to two years. we should have left it at four years. and actually this dug would have been academic, because off four-year ban, by implication, you miss the games. >> but i kind of think the only way you'll really eradicate it is to be incredibly draconian. to say, if you get caught, you're banned for life from the olympics. wouldn't that -- wouldn't that in one hito more effective work with this than what is going on at the moment? >> yes, you're right, but of course the problem you then have are the legion of lawyers that will fight it on all sorts of grounds. and that's why the international federations, the international olympic committee, the world anti-doping agency have settled on a ban that gives nominally those competitors a second chance, so that you don't close the door if they're prepared to come back and be clean and maybe go out into the sporting community and talk to kids about the dangers of sport. they only tend to do that after they've been caught, of course. but the reality of it is, you're then tied up into legalize, and i don't think a lifetime ban would stick. >> let's talk about michael phelps. he smashed the record last night, in dramatic style, as the biggest medal winner in the history of the olympic games, sparking the obvious debate, is he the greatest olympian ever? is he? >> the lovely thing about the games in the uk is we've had the big -- we've had the national pug game, is david beckham going to be on the team, who's going to light the flame, the usual stuff that has been the stuff of the tap rooms most nights a week. now you've got the global pub game, is he the greatest? >> who do you think is? >> you have to say, winning 19 medals or whatever he managed last night, it makes him certainly the most successful and prolific medal winner. is he the greatest? i'm t sure. >> i've got carl lewis coming in tonight, he's got someone who won nine golds, but in a variety of different disciplines. many say that's more difficult in the athletics track and field than the swimming. would you go along with that? >> well, yeah, i'm from track and field, i would say statistically, it's tougher to win a medal in track and field than almost any other sport, because there are 220 sports competing at it, and it's one of the truly global sports. that's not to decry swimming as one of the real tough sports. >> to pin you down and say, right, lord coe, you can have one name of one olympian that you personally would want to say again, who would it be? >> well, modesty probably prohibits me -- [ laughs ] i don't know, for all sorts of reasons and given what he did and where he did it and the extraordinary athletic talent, i would probably, if you really pin me, i would say jesse owens. >> would you? yeah, that's a good call. very good call. >> 1936. >> i will make my first comments to carl lewis, lord coe says jesse owens is better than you. >> maybe carl lewis wouldn't disagree with that, because i know that carl had a massive regard for jesse. >> one final thing, the opening ceremony, i was a bit surprised with steve ovet, your great rival, wasn't invited. >> he was. >> he wrote a piece saying he hadn't been invited. >> he was. and we were actually trying to get him to run in the torch relay. the problem is, he didn't actually arrive in london until literally -- >> so he was invited? >> yeah, all our olympic medalists were invited to take part in the -- >> so he was snuffing you out. >> no, all our olympic medalists, as i think, about 180 of them, gathered on the infield to be celebrated, just before the caldron was lit, were invited, so i know steve was invited. >> well, it's been a fantastic success, lord coe. on behalf of everyone in britain, we are very proud of what you've achieved with olympics, and thank you, because you've really put us back on the global map in a great way. >> i'm very proud of what all my fellow countrymen have achieved alongside us. >> well, it takes leadership and you've showed it in spades. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, piers. the whole world has been talking about the 16-year-old olympic swimmer, but what's her own country think about it? with me is jaime cruz. what's the reaction in china on the ground to what's going on here? is there a feeling that if she were an american or british swimmer, we wouldn't even be debating it? >> well, the chinese are cheering and celebrating ye shiw shiwen's success. in fact, in the wednesday's edition of the beijing times, they have her on the cover and the headline reads, "ye shiwen is clean." and they say she passed the strict drug tests of the ioc in london. so, yes, the chinese feel they are being unfairly singled out. they feel that if had it been like a, you know, a michael phelps or another swimming sensation, we wouldn't be talking about it. it would have been a fabulous news and yet, in this case, it's cheating. >> i mean, i think i was encouraged, and i said this to other guests tonight, about the reaction of the chinese over here in london to the other scandal involving the badminton teams, one of whom was the china team, are they deliberately lost to avoid meeting some of their rivals in later stages. but the chinese were very quick to come down on this thing. it wasn't in the olympic spirit and endorsing the decision to suspend and throw them out of the games. how has that gone down in china? is it being seen as a sign that china really has changed? that they are now prepared to play by the rules of the olympic games? >> reporter: yes, it is one of the top-trending topics, especially in the microblogging sites here. and indeed, most of the people who are posting were supportive of china's quick response. they think that that is in the spirit of the olympics, of fair play, but there are some who also are conflicted and who think that the chinese athletes are not to blame, the chinese coaches are not to blame, nor the other athletes of the other teams. they say that it is the system of this group system that forces these people to play this tactic. so it's a question of whether it's good tactics or cheating, but overall, i think the chinese here are saying that first, gold is not the most important. it's not the ultimate thing, that participation is more important, and that fair play, in this case, is just as important. >> yeah, and they're quite right, because it's not tactics, it's just plain cheating. when you play to lose to avoid a stronger opponent, it is cheating. anyway, jaime florcruz, thank you very much for joining me, i appreciate it. coming up next, olympic legend gregg ugaines and why the gold winning diver stayed away from the game for 16 years. 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[ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. a master dive for the master himself, greg louganis. no olympic athlete has a story quite like the four-time gold medal winner. greg, nice to meet you. >> great to meet you. >> and you haven't been to a summer olympics for 16 years. why's that? >> i know, well, i wasn't invited. i was kind of thinking, my name's greek and i was raised greek, so i was thinking athens would be it, but i forgot. that was the year that i lost my mom. so i was a little preoccupied, i think. >> let's turn to the swimming. it's been an extraordinary, exhilarating week in the pool. everyone assumed michael phelps may be on the rampage again, he hasn't been, but he has broken the all-time medal winning record. ryan lochte, obviously, emerging, but again, there's a third character we weren't expecting wit ing excting, the frenchman. what do you make of it? how exciting has this been for you? >> well, i love to see incredible performances, and that's what you get at the olympic games. everybody knows who the top athletes are. you know who your competition is. you know, it's whoever puts it together on that day. >> when you go back to your extraordinary story, and it is an extraordinary story, this great secret that you kept, the drama of when you smashed your head, i remember it vividly, what do you make of where you've got to now? are you in a good place now? have you come through all the traumas and dramas of what went on? >> yeah, definitely. back in 1998, when i was diagnosed with hiv, we thought of hiv as a death sentence. so my doctor, who was also my cousin, he was treating me and he said, the best thing you can do is continue training. and so, it was much more positive to focus on the diving. so that's what i did. and it was really a blessing. but, honestly, i didn't think that i would see 30. you know, because that's -- >> i think of magic johnson, and now you, both of whom have had hiv for 20 years. the mere fact that both of you look so fit and healthy and well and happy is all you need to see, isn't it? it's such a radical change now in public opinion about hiv, precisely because of people like you, i imagine. >> well, it's a double-edged sword. because now young kids are seeing us and they're saying, well, they're alive, thriving, and all that. but i wouldn't wish my drug regimen on anyone. i mean, the things that i've been through are pretty devastating. >> even now, do you still have to take a huge amount of pills a day? >> it's not quite as many. they've combined a lot of the medications, you know, for the cocktails and all. i take my meds in the morning and the evening, and go about the business of livine living, know, but when you're magic johnson you have your own chef and nutritionist, you have all these people looking after you. i don't have that. but i'm working on it. no. but, you know, it's challenging. you know, making sure that you're taking care of yourself. the one thing that i have noticed with long-term survivors is they do stay active. you know, they go to the gym, they live active lifestyles, you know? and i think that that's the one thing that kind of helps us metabolize the medications and tolerate the medications. >> what do you make of this whole chick-fil-a furor? because apparently mike huckabee has come out today, ordering christians to go and eat at chick-fil-a to make a statement after the boss man came out with his comment about gay marriage, and conversely, the same-sex marriage lobby group are ordering every gay person in the world to converge on chick-fil-a on friday. >> yeah, yeah. >> is it all getting a bit silly? do you have a view? were you angered when the chick-fil-a boss said what he said? >> well, you know, i'm not real political, you know, but i know what's right. you know, what's right for me. and you know, equal rights for everybody. the chick-fil-a -- who eats that stuff? you know? really, who eats that stuff? i mean, i kind of like my arteries, you know? i like the blood flowing. >> you shouldn't be going to chick-fil-a on health grounds, never mind the views about same-sex marriage, right? >> yeah, exactly. exactly. >> let's turn to the chinese wonder swimmer. i've been asking everyone about this, because she's been one of the big stories of the games and the whole issue of china, of drugs, and cheating. we saw the badminton thing. where are you on all this? >> you know, i am so thankful that i was in a sport that, we didn't have that, really, as an issue. you know, you don't want a 200, 300-pound diver, you know, so, you know, fortunately, i didn't have those issues. it's sad that that's an issue, you know, that it becomes about the science rather than the performance and the individual. >> what was the greatest -- we know the worst dive you ever did, because it's the most famous dive in history, but what was the greatest dive of your life? when you look back. >> you know, the greatest dive i ever did in my entire life was the dive after that dive. >> right. >> because -- i mean, i wrote about it. i wrote a blog, the toughest sissy in the world, you know? in that moment in time, i became the toughest sissy in the world. and i thank all the people who bullied me and who, you know, were really hard on me, beat me up at the bus stop and took my lunch money, because if it weren't for those experiences, i wouldn't have been as tough as i was, to be able to get through that. >> when you went back and dived again, and you came back up, and your head bounced up through the water, what was going through your mind? >> you know -- >> the first thing you thought? >> well, going through something like that, okay, i hit my head on the board. you know, your confidence is totally shattered, you know? i'm supposed to be a pretty good diver, you're not supposed to do stuff like that. so when my confidence was shattered and i turned to my coach and we decided to continue, he knew that my confidence was gone, and he said, okay, if you don't believe in yourself, believe in me, because i believe in you. and then we'll get through this together. and i mean, that's what we did. i mean, you don't achieve greatness on your own. there's always somebody there, whether it be a coach, my mom was always there. she was kind of a mainstay, my rock, you know? whenever i was in a tough situation, i would always say to myself, no matter what happens, my mother's still going to love me. even if i did a bomb of a dive, she'd be saying, oh, that was a pretty splash! you know? >> greg, it's been a real pleasure to see you. >> great seeing you. >> it wouldn't be the same without you. >> well, thank you. >> great to see you. coming next, i talk to the one and only carl lewis. 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