Pang Jiaying, 27, women's 200m free bronze medalist in 2008 Olympics and also Olympian in 2012 London Games, said she is going to retire next year after national games. As the oldest team member in Chinese women team (Chen Zuo is the oldest on the men's side at 30 and retiring soon), she recently won a 4x200 free bronze at short course Worlds in Instanbul with her younger team mates.
Pang said,"I competed in 4 editions of World short course championships but I still can't race well in short course pool due to my poor turning technique." Nevertheless, she is satisfied with her bronze in this edition. The most exciting experience for Pang is 2006 Worlds in Shanghai, which is also her hometown. She said," In front of my hometown, I also took bronze in 4x200m free like this year. I always feel more confident in front of the home crowd, just like Long Course Worlds last year. Our hometown is great in meet organization." She further mentioned,"I am also impressed with the Indianpolis short course Worlds in 2006 in which the organizer built a temporary pool in the NBA stadium."
It's worth to mention that she also trains with Tang Yi, 100m free bronze medalist at London Olympics in 2012. As a senior, she used to offer a lot of help and advice to her younger team mate such as urging Tang to turn in as it gets late. She said,"I am like witnessing her rise. We get along quite well. When she started joining our team, I think she is such a cute innocent girl. As for now, I can sense she grows up a lot over the years and she knows how to manage herself quite well. Now, she wouldn't get as moody in the training as our coach, Pang Jiazhang, always keeps the communication going. She is also getter maturer in handling her life and controlling her emotions."
On coach Pang, she laughed, "My coach has been with me for 14 years. Not only me, but the whole team has the deepest respect for him. Whenever he stands on the poolside, no one dares to slack." As what Pang Jiaying described, coach Pang is more like a stern father to the team and she said jokingly that her younger team mate, Pu Wenjie, is afraid of him "to the death".
She elaborated,"As I get older, coach Pang is not as stern in my training nowadays. We both have experienced a lot, no matter it is sweet or bitter memory and with all the stories we've been through, I know there is a deep bond between both of us. In 2008 Beijing Olympics, I won 200m free bronze. As I know my coach quite well over the years, he is not an articulate but rather introvert person. After medal ceremony, I remembered he all the sudden gave me a big hug which really took me by surprise but I fully, 100% understand his intention, which includes his satisfaction of my results, his understanding of my efforts and inputs that finally paid off and ... a whole lot... But I didn't cry on the scene."
Pang confessed at the end,"National Games next year will be the last competition of my swimming career. As always, My goal is gold medal for sure and I hope I can win as many gold medals as I can to fulfil my last swimming goal to the fullest."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment