One teen shines, but talent pool looks dry
Thirteen-year-old schoolgirl Li Xuanxu was the toast of China's just-ended national swimming championships, but the main talking point was the men's flops just 15 months ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
While the women posted Olympic qualifying times in every event except the 200m freestyle, only five Chinese men met Olympic standards, according to state-run media reports.
Li put herself among contenders for a place in China's Olympic team by winning the women's 200m and 400m individual medley, both within Olympic qualifying standards.
But apart from the schoolgirl from the central province of Hubei, there were few signs at the event that ended Monday of an influx of new blood ahead of the August 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing next year.
China's swimmers sank to their worst performance in 15 years at this year's world championships in Melbourne, Australia, winning just one silver and one bronze medal.
The national championships were meant to begin a confidence-building process leading up to the 2008 Games, but national coach Zhang Yadong said he saw little to celebrate.
"Overall the performance by national team swimmers was not as bad as at the world championships," he was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
"Given that they have not been specially preparing for this event, reaching Olympic standard is not so bad.
"But when you think that foreign swimmers are battling for world records and world ranking, for our swimmers to be struggling for Olympic qualifying times is really just too low."
Wu Peng was the best of a poor Chinese bunch in Melbourne, winning a silver medal in the men's 200m butterfly.
At the national championships Wu complained of fatigue after finishing third in the 100m butterfly and said he found it tough racing in the morning.
AFP
(China Daily 05/23/2007 page22)
