Olympic champ Sun shrugs off row with world class results

Sun's good form showed that the freestyle specialist has never been really away from the pool and he will look to improve steadily ahead of the World Championships in Barcelona.

"I know a lot of people hope I can make a breakthrough in 200m free, but I just take it as a practice since I didn't train enough recently," Sun said Wednesday. "I will train harder after the championships, even harder than what I did before the Olympic Games to improve the result. Since I have not been under systematic training for more than two months, I am satisfied with the time."

"I really hope I can compete with Agnel in 200m at the Olympic Games," he added.

Despite the good results, Sun said he still need to improve his start. "My start time was almost the slowest at the London Games, and in order to improve my time in 200m, I must do something about it, " he said.

Sun also said he was still dealing with his shoulder injuries which was also a reason he stopped training earlier the year. "I am still dealing with my shoulder injuries. I swam about 20,000m a day, so my shoulders are always in bad condition," he said. "I was not pretending, the injuries are real."

The good results helped smooth the rift between Sun and the coach, as Zhu said Thursday that he was satisfied with Sun's performance.

"Actually it was not true to say Sun stopped training at all days before, and he was just very busy and took part in a lot of activities," he said. "There was no big deal between us. We are in better relationship after making some communications."

"Our focus in the year is the Barcelona Worlds and the National Games," Zhu added. "Sun is a talented swimmer and I think he will not give up."

Sun shot to fame at the London Games where he became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic swimming gold medal, transforming him into one of China's most sought-after sportsmen.