China crowns a new pool queen

'Surging power'

Waving to the rest of China's cheering swimming squad in the stands, Zhang and her relay teammates wrapped themselves in Chinese flags and beamed with joy during their post-race interviews before embracing on the podium to celebrate their heroic feat.

"To be honest I didn't expect us to win and I felt I was far behind at the 150-meter mark on my leg," said Zhang, who was only told to swim the relay when she was relaxing following her butterfly final.

"I didn't even know how to swim the 200 free, although I have the training qualities and levels for the distance.

"But somehow I felt a surging power coming from the whole nation's support in my final 50 meters, and I pushed harder and never looked back."

With a silver medal from Monday's 100m fly already around her neck, Zhang will go down as one of the breakout stars of Tokyo 2020, and has emerged as a new leader for Team China. Three-time Olympic champion Sun's chances of resurrecting his career appear unlikely after he was banned for over four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month for doping-control violations.

As the oldest on China's triumphant relay team, Zhang's individual breakthrough served as strong motivation for her three teammates, who were all born after 2000.

"Her win in butterfly really inspired us to go harder for the relay medal, making us believe that the Chinese can join the battle for gold in this event," said Yang, 19, who finished fourth in Wednesday's 200m free final.

Distance freestyle star Li, who swam the anchor leg for China, echoed those sentiments, saying that the extra strength she drew from Zhang's golden performance helped her hold off a strong charge from American star Katie Ledecky at the end.

"We were inspired by her 200 fly... it made us determined to do our best in the relay. We were all in tears," added Li, also 19, who won her first Olympic medal after finishing third in Monday's 400m free.

Zhang's win is China's third gold in 200m fly at the Olympics since Liu triumphed in the event at Beijing 2008. It is also redemption for her disappointing sixth-place finish at Rio 2016, as well as failures to grab gold at the world championships in 2017 and 2019.

"Now she definitely deserves the title of 'Butterfly Queen'," retired star Jiao Liuyang, the 200m fly gold medalist at London 2012, said during a Tencent program on Thursday.

"She's proved herself by winning Olympic gold at a younger age than we did. She's physically stronger and has her confidence boosted to the next level.

"I think she's well-equipped to spearhead China's charge to the next Olympics in Paris."