China

Coach: Championships results better than expected

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-27 09:46

SHAOXING - In the era of non-Magic swim suit, Chinese national team head coach Yao Zhengjie saw a better than expected meet after the five-day national championships concluded here on Monday.

Though no records were broken, some world top three-ranked performances were produced including world champion Zhang Lin in the men's 400 meters, Jiao Liuyang in the women's butterfly, Li Xuanxu in the women's 400m individual medley and long distance freestyle and the 14-year-old Ye Shiwen in the women's 200m individual medley.

"Our top swimmers performed very stably at the meet, compared to the National Games last October. They remain top level without the high-tech swim suits," said Yao.

A few veteran swimmers retired after last year's National Games, while some others took a long break before training overseas.

Olympic champion Liu Zige spent one month in Britain early this year, Zhang Lin had a six-week training spell in the United States, world bronze medalist in the men's 1500m freestyle Sun Yang and former men's 200m butterfly world runner-up Wu Peng have been training in Australia and the U.S.

"We benefited from training aboard in the past few years. We'll continue to send our top swimmers and coaches to train and learn in the powerhouses," said Yao.

Compared with established stars like Zhang Lin, Jiao Liuyang and Zhao Jing, the 14-year-old Ye Shiwen was an underdog as she shocked the field to take the women's 200m individual medley in a world second fastest time so far this year.

Ye's winning time was 2:10.32, just 0.25 seconds behind double Olympic medley champion Stephanie Rice of Australia.

Yao revealed the national team will open the door to Ye after the national meet. "She will be a member of the team and will be sent to Australia, as well as other coaches and swimmers."

Liu Zige, Wu Peng, Sun Yang and several other top swimmers, who were absent from the national meet, are expected to show up at the Guangzhou Asian Games in November.

"For Chinese swimmers, the most important event of 2010 is the Asian Games. I hope they can perform their best," Yao said.