Chinese Water Games 1: Zhang Fenglin, Gao Chang, Zhu Qianwei, Wang Xiangcheng and Li Xuanxu won with fast times

After 3 days of competitions, the 1st swimming NR was broken after the post-shiny suit era. Zhang Fenglin set men's 200m back NR in 1:57.86, 5/100th faster than than Ouyang Kinpeng's old mark. Zhang comes from the same province as the ex-AR holder of this event, Fu Yong, has been NG champion (at 1:58.17), National champion in April (at 1:58.24). He is the 2nd Chinese to break 1:58 mark after Ouyang. Another Chinese, Diao Jigong, also swam a swift 1:58.81 in recent World military swimming championships last month. Diao was national champion at 1:59.29 in April, 2009. It is good to see some improvements in Chinese men's backstroke which is relatively weak. On the other hand, women's 50m back world no. 1 was returned to Gao Chang at 27.54.

This meet also featured the 2nd textile 1:56 mark in Chinese women's 200m free after Lu Bin set back in 1994 (at 1:56.89). Zhu Qianwei recovered from low fever and swam 1:56.93. Surprisingly, Tang Yi was still doing well after a packed schedule of competitions. She won 6 events in Youth Olympics and now she swam another 1:57 which has been her 3rd 1:57 this year (April Nationals, Mare Monstrum, and now). She also swam a 25.11 in 50m free yesterday, her pb in textile but only settled for second behind Li Zheshi, 15 of age, who did a fast 24.92. Jiao Liuyang also got a strong in this event with 25.15, also pb. She was also invincible in her main events, winning both 100m and 200m fly in swift 57.7 and 2:5.6, respectively.

First day also featured a top 10 swim from men when Wang Chengxian from Shandong did a 4:13.09 in 400m IM, defeating the current NR holder, Huang Chaosheng by more than 1sec. Huang repeated his time in April Nationals for 2nd (4:14.75). On the women side, Li Xuanxu is still dominant in 400m IM as she did a 4:35. She also won 400m free in 4:05, 4 sec faster than 2nd swimmer.

However, Chen Qian, swimmer from Shangdong province, who set 2 ARs last year in the women 400m and 800m free, has performed under par so far. She did a modest 1:59.25 in 200m free and then a slow 4:17 in 400m free. Don't know if this is case this time: National Games champions in women 400 and 800m free have been all shooting stars. Take a look of these winners: 1993: Zhou Guanbin; 1997: Chen Yan; 2001: Zhang Liang, 2005: Yang Jieqiao and 2009: Chen Qian. All these swimmers achieved top ranked marks in both events in their winning year but almost no one (except one) can improve their time after this. Zhou was one of the 7 swimmers who was tested positive in 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games. She did improve in Asian Games but the times were not counted. Chen did a previous AR 4:05.00/8:27.94 in 1997 and won World title in 4:06 next year. Since then, she seldom swam these events and she achieved no international success after 1998 Worlds. Zhang Liang in 2001 achieved a world no. 1 mark in 400m free at 4:06.97. She is definitely a dark horse and the biggest shooting star ever. She still managed a 55s in 100m free the next year but almost disappeared after 2002. 4 years later, Yang Jieqiao won another double in 2005 with relatively slow times (4:07.54 and 8:29). She was still able to maintain that form until 2007. In that year, her 800m time had improved to 8:26 but she did not go to Worlds. According to a media report, she was having a surgery before Worlds 2007 due to a "female problem". Somehow, in late 2007 and early 2008, she decided to switch to open water and it seemed that she had qualified for the Olympics. Finally, she did not compete. She was competitng the 2009 National Games but could no longer make a big wave in the pool when a new dark horse, Chen Qian, was born, packing 2 ARs away. One controversy around Yang is that the one behind Yang may be coach Zhou Ming, who was notorious during 1990s for the drug issues in China and by right, he should not be involved in any form of coaching. Anyway, Yang has not been doing so well in recent years and only managed a 2:02 in 200m free and 4:20 in 400m free in Chinese aquatics games. If you don't try to spot her, you may not know she is still around the scene. Will Chen Qian be another sinking dark horse?

Finally, Sun Yang raced his 1st men's 400m free in 2010 and did a 3:45, which is the 3rd fastest in the world. Zhang Lin and Sun will definitely having a good fight with the reigning Asian Games champion, Park Tae Hwan. With Matsuda from Japan, it will be a world class field in coming Asian Games, featuring world no. 1-2-3 and 6th.

Chinese swimming and athletics team for YOG

Swimming:

Tang Yi (SH): 50, 100 and 200m free
50m free
2009 NCC: 25.33
2009 NG: 24.81
2009 EAG: 25.49 (silver)
2010 NCC: 25.62 (3rd)
100m free
2008 NC (winter): 55.80
2007 CG: 55.41
2008 NC (summer): 54.82
2009 NCC: 54.88
2009 NG: 53.88 (3rd)
2009 EAG: 54.82 (silver)
2010 NCC: 54.72 (1st)
200m free
2006 AG: 2:00.18 (r)
2007: 2:00.39
2008 NC (summer): 2:00.15
2009 NG: 1:58.00
2009 NC (summer): 1:56.82 (1st, Jaked)
2010 NCC: 1:57.86 (1st)
2010 Barcelona: 1:57.64 (1st)

Bai Anqi (ZJ): 100 and 200m back
100m
2006 NCC: 1:02.42
2008 NC (winter): 1:02.69
2009 NG: 1:01.06 (sf)
2010 NCC: 1:01.26
200m
2006 AG: 2:12.63
2007 NCC: 2;15.21
2008 NC (winter): 2:11.62
2009 NCC: 2:09.79 (3rd)
2009 NG: 2:08.40 (2nd)
2009 EAG: 2:09.54 (silver)
2010 NCC: 2:08.82 (1st)

Liu Lan (GD): 100 and 200m fly
50m
2009 YAG: 27.33 (gold)
2010 NCC: 27.26
100m
2008 NCC: 1:01.65 (h)
2009 YAG: 1:00.76 (Bronze)
2009 NG: 58.88 (sf)
2010 NCC: 59.30
200m
2008 NC (summer): 2:15.50 (h)
2009 YAG: 2:14.13 (gold)
2009 NG: 2:10.27
2009 NCC: 2:09.32
2010 NCC: 2:11.13
2010 PG: 2:10.21

Wang Chang (HLJ): 100 and 200m breaststroke
50m:
2009 YAG: 31.80 (gold)
100m
2008 NCC: 1:11.74 (h)
2009 NC (spring): 1:10.77
2009 YAG: 1:12.37 (Bronze)
2009 NG: 1:11.13 (h)
200m
2008 NC (winter): 2:37.12
2009 YAG: 2:36.38 (Bronze)
2009 NG: 2:40.08

Wang Ximing (BJ): 100m breastroke
50m: 29.28
100m:
2008 NC (spring): 1:08.48 (h)
2009 NG: 1:03.83 (h)
2009 YAG: 1:04.45 (gold)

Dai Jun (SH): 200 and 400m free
200m
2008 NC (winter): 1:54.06
2009 NG: 1:49.23 (sf)
2010 NCC: 1:50.02
400m
2008 NC (summer): 3:57.52
2009 NG: 3:48.59 (3rd)
2010 NCC: 3:48.46 (2nd)
1500m free
2008 NC (winter): 15:24.83
2009 NCC: 15:08.45
2009 NG: 14:59.25 (2nd)
2010 NCC: 15:06.17 (2nd)

Sun Bowei (HeN): 50 and 100m fly
100m
2008 NC: 56.14 (sf)
2009 NG: 53.86
2010 NCC: 54.06

He Jianbin (GD): 50 and 100m free and 100m back
50m free
2010 Barcelona: 23.27
100m free
2008 NCC: 51.19 (h)
2009 NG: 50.16
2010 NCC: 50.62
100m back
2008 NC (summer): 57.03
2009 NCC: 55.69 (3rd)
2009 NG: 55.42 (3rd), 55.31 (h), 54.95 (r)
2009 WC: 55.24 (h)
2010 AC: 54.84 (gold)
2010 NCC: 55.39 (2nd)
2010 Monaco: 56.28

National youth athletics championships: Wrapped up

In the final day of the competition, Lu Shangbin from Jiangsu completed a 100m (10.62s, on day 1)/200m (20.99, +0.6m/s) double win. Last month, Lu won the men's 200m in the National Grand Prix final with a pb of 20.74s when competiting with the seniors. On the youth level, he is apparently invincible beating the closest opponent by almost 0.7s. Teng Haining who set the domestic lead in men's 800m in the heat won the final in 1:50.12 without any resistance. Later, he won 1500m in group 1 in 3:54.80 but was exceeded by the group 2 winner, Jiang Jianxiao from Gansu province by 0.36s. On the women's side, Lu Yumei from Jiangsu won 200m in 24.31s. Notable results came from women's javelin when He Daixian from Hunan and Jin Pingping from Tianjin finished top 2 with a pair of tight throws of 50.75m and 50.20m, respectively.

Chinese Youth Athletics championships (Day1 and 2)

Some fine results from the National Youth (16-17yo ) Athletics championships. Chu Pengfei from Heilongjiang had a strong showing with a 13.25s in 110m hurdle (0.914m), winning over another promising youngster from Shanghai, Lu Jiateng. Teng Haining who has won the heat in men's 1500m on day 1 won another heat in 800m with a Chinese domestic lead, 1:50.07, better than previous mark 1:50.08.

W100m, +0.4m/s
Ye Jiabei (Zhejiang) 11.75

W100m H
Wang Dou (Jiangsu) 13.56

M110m H (0.914m), -0.4m/s
Chu Pengfei (Heilongjiang) 13.25 (13.31h, +0.3m/s)
Lu Jiateng (Shanghai) 13.43
Chen Shuyan (Jiangsu) 13.53

M800m heat
Teng Haining (Liaoning) 1:50.07 (Chinese domestic lead)

WDT
Gu Siyu (Army) 53.17m

Hao Yun produced 15:18 in Los Angeles US GP

A relatively unknown 15-year-old youngster Hao Yun from Hebei swam a 15:18.75 in men's 1500m free on Jul 11 in the US Grand Prix held in Los Angeles. He also placed third in the competition behind sub-15 swimmer, Cohrane from Canada. He could be another promising long distance free swimmer from China after Zhang Lin and Sun Yang. Hao could be representing the 1st Youth Olympics in August since he was selected in the 2009 Youth Olympics training camp. Jiao Liuyang and Chen Yin were both in action too with 2 wins in their pet events, women and men's 200m fly in 2:08.40 and 1:56.93 on Jul 10, respectively. Wu Peng who is training in US, was not seen in this meet.

Some fine swimming results produced in 13th Guangdong Provincial Games 2010

Some fine results in swimming event from 13th Guangdong provincial Games

Jul9
Women A 400m IM
Xue Jiao 4:47.90 (Xue is National Champion in 2009)

Women A 200m butterfly
Sun Mengyue 2:08.66
Liu Lan 2:10.21 (Liu is top 8 in China in this event)

Jul10
Women A 200m breaststroke
Li Qing 2:28.69

Women A 100m butterfly
Liu Lan 59.41
Sun Mengyue 59.55

Jul 11
Women A 200m IM
Xue Jiao 2:14.72

My top event-by-event athletes in Chinese track and field from 2000-2010

It comes to 2010 and it's time to select my top athletes in Chinese track and field. I don't want to just pick 10 top athletes but would rather select fine athletes event-by-event who has impact in the domestic or even international scene. Definitely, international meet results are taken into main consideration. If there is not, like those men's long distance running, I will choose those who have been dominating in the domestic competitions. Here you go:

Men
100m: Chen Haijian, Hu Kai, Zhang Peimeng
200m: Yang Yaozu, Xu Zizhou
400m: Xu Zizhou, Liu Xiaosheng, Wang Liangyu
800m: Li Xiangyu, Li Huiquan (ban)
1500m: Dou Zhaobo, Gu Ming, Yang Weizhe
5000m: Dou Zhaobo, Lin Xiangqian
10000m: Ren Longyuan
3000m SC: Lin Xiangqian, Sun Wenyong
Marathon: Ren Longyuan, Han Gang
110m H: Liu Xiang, Shi Dongpeng
400m H: Meng Yan, Zhang Shibao
HJ: Huang Haiqiang, Zhang Shufeng
PV: Liu Feiliang, Yang Yansheng, Zhang Hongwei
TJ: Li Yanxi, Zhu Shujing, Gu Junjie
LJ: Li Jinzhe, Xu Xiongfeng, Zhang Xiaoyi, Zhou Can, Li Runrun
SP: Zhang Jun, Zhang Qi
JT: Li Rongxiang, Chen Qi, Qin Qiang
DT: Li Shaojie, Wu Tao
HT: Ma Liang, Ye Kuigang
Dec: Qi Haifeng
20km walk: Wang Hao, Zhu Hongjun, Yu Chaohong
50km walk: Han Yucheng, Yu Chaohong, Zhao Chengliang

Li Jinzhe 8.29m in Eugene, Lu Minjia at 6.79m, both wind-aided.

Asian champion, Li Jinzhe from Beijing leapt a wind-aided 8.29m in Eugene 2 days ago while 17-year-old Lu Minjia from Zhejiang had a wind-aided jump (2.2m/s) of 6.79m last month in Chaoqing. Both backed up with strong performances from last year. Li was at 8.01m in World Champs, 8.18m in National Games, 8.08m in Asian Champs while Lu at 6.74m in National Games. Men's long jump looks bright for China to regain Asian Games title since 1994. In Eugene, Li also had a legal 8.12m jump equalling the Asian best this year set by another Chinese, Yu Zhenwei. Backed with Su Xiongfeng who set an Asian Indoor record of 8.27m this year and already a 8m+ performer outdoor in this season, Chinese men's long jump has been reviving. Women side also looks improving: 3-4 jumpers have been on 6.50m this year which appears far better than the previous years.

Li Yanfeng on 65.20m

After sending a world no. 1 in women's discus throw (66.40m) last year in national Games, Li Yanfeng from Heilongjiang has shown good form by throwing 65.20m yesterday in Suzhou national GP.

Chinese nationals: Day 2 final

W100m free
In the absence of Li Zheshi from Liaoning and big sister, Pang Jiaying who skipped the final, Tang Yi dominated the field in the 100m free final and swam the only sub-55s time (54.72). Without sprinters Li and Wang Junyao in the team, Wang Shijia helped Liaoning gain one more silver. 400m medley bronze medalist, Ye Shiwen took bronze with 55.38. The time is considered slow, partly due to the change of the swimsuit. Same happened in Australia when only Seebhom got below 55s (54.70) in the nationals. Pang has been nuturing her injuries in lower back after National Games and only started training in January. When asked about retirement like those who are as old as her, she replied that she is still at the peak of her career, based on her recent results and she wants to contribute more for both the provincial team and the national team. She said she won't consider retirement unless the younger generation is reliable to pass her baton over.

1. Tang Yi (Shanghai) 54.72
2. Wang Shijia (Liaoning) 55.20
3. Ye Shiwen (Zhejiang) 55.38

M400m IM
NR holder, 18 yo Huang Chaosheng won in 4:14.25, current 3rd best time this year. It's a repeat of National Games that both men and women 400m IM were won by Hunan swimmers. Li Xuexu just blasted a World no. 1 time on the 1st day and now Huang won again. Huang was about 1.5 second slower than his NR. National Games 3rd and 4th placer, Li Xiang and Wang Chengxiang switched places but both swam way slower than the times they swam in National games (4:15.74 and 4:16.42, respectively).

1. Huang Chaosheng (Hunan) 4:14.25
2. Wang Chengxiang (Shandong) 4:18.48
3. Li Xiang (Tianjin) 4:20.17

W50m fly
Jiao Liuyang has no challenge in China with a easy win at 26.52s.

1. Jiao Liuyang (Guangzhou army) 26.52
2. Lin Shuyuan (Zhejiang) 26.80
3. Guo Fan (Heilongjiang) 26.94

M50m free
A tight competition here with all top 3 were separated within 0.1s. 2nd in the heat, Zhou Jiawei was injuried her ankle on the block and finished last. The final champion is Shi Tengfei, who won in 22.80. After race, he felt lucky to win since 100m is more his main event. All the top three from the National Games last year were not able to finish top three here (Cai Li, You Tianyu and Huang Shaohua). The times are comparatively slow but normal, compared with the pre-plastic suit era.

1. Shi Tengfei (Beijing) 22.80
2. Lu Zhiwu (Zhejiang) 22.82
3. Shi Yang (Shanghai) 22.89

M 4x200m free
Shanghai, once again, won the event after winning national game title.

1. Shanghai 7:21.74
2. Tianjin 7:24.42
3. Liaoning 7:33.92

W800m free
Li Xuanxu blasted out another top time with 8:24.10, 3rd in the world this year and her pb. It was her 3rd season at 8:24 and 4th season of sub-8:30 The 2nd swimmer behind Li was Zhou Lili who was more than 10s back. Li Limeng was at 8:29 last year and was at 8:37 this time. In the interview, she did not seem to care too much about the ranking she has achieved thus far and Chinese media had a hard time to get any words from Li, who wears a skin head. She said she was sick before the meets and only ok with her own performance.

1. Li Xuanxu (HUnan) 8:24.10
2. Zhou Lili (Shanghai) 8:35.32
3. Li Limeng (Tianjin) 8:37.16

Chinese nationals: Day 2 morning heats

Morning heats

W100m free
Zhejiang rising star, 14-year-old Ye Shiwen (born in March 01, 1996), qualified 1st in 100m free after finishing 3rd in 400m IM last night. Both Tang Yi and Pang Jiaying also qualified. Formerly known from Shanxi province and now representing Liaoning, Wang Shijia also did what as expected to capture the 3rd spot.

1. Ye Shiwen (Zhejiang) 55.63
2. Tang Yi (Shanghai) 55.68
3. Wang Shijia (Liaoning) 55.72
7. Pang Jiaying (Shanghai) 56.48

M400m IM
National Games champion and NR holder, Huang Chaosheng topped in the heats with a moderate 4:21.37. National Games 3rd and 4th place moved up to 2nd and 3rd spot in the absence of the former NR holder, Liu Weijia from Liaoning.

1. Huang Chaosheng (Hunan) 4:21.37
2. Li Xiang (Tianjin) 4:22.55
3. Wang Chengxiang (Shandong) 4:22.87

W50m fly
Little known Liu Shuyuan captured the lane 4 in the final tonight with 27.25. Fast improver Guo Fan from the far north came in 2nd and Asian youth games champion, Liu Lan was 3rd. Jiao Liuyang won 200m fly in the opening night and did not go as fast.

1. Lin Shuyuan (Zhejiang) 27.25
2. Guo Fan (Heilongjiang) 27.38
3. Liu Lan (Guangdong) 27.48
4. Jiao Liuyang (Guangzhou army/Heilongjiang) 27.50

M50m free
Most of the top free sprinters in China qualified for the final with Shi swimming lane 4 tonight in 22.91, the only sub-23s this morning. Zhou Jiawei has not been swimming this event for a long time and qualified for the 2nd spot. Surprisingly, National Games champion, Cai Li and NR holder Lu Zhiwu were not in top 3.

1. Shi Yang (Shanghai) 22.91
2. Zhou Jiawei (Guangdong) 23.03
3. Lu Zhiwu (Zhejiang) 23.09

M4x200m free
1. Shandong 7:38.84
2. Tianjin 7:39.71
3. Liaoning 7:39.91

Chinese Nationals: Day 1

W50m breaststroke

Reigning champion and Asian record holder Chen Huijia (30.46) from Zhejiang (same as Luo Xuejuan) won the event easily. Another rising star from Navy after Qi Hui, Zhang Hongtao was 2nd and 1:07 swimmer in 100m breaststrok, Liu Xiaoyu took bronze. Surprisingly, Shanghai beauty, Ji Liping, who normally does well in the sprinting, was not in the top 3. Not sure if she is in the race.

Ji Liping (Shanghai)

1. Chen Huijia (Zhejiang) 31.21


2. Zhang Hongtao (Navy) 31.68 (31.47p)


3. Liu Xianyu (Liaoning) 31.76





M200m free


Undoubtly, Zhang Lin is unchallenged in China. Jiang Haiqi regains his momentum to place 2nd after losing out the podium in the national games. Zhang Enjian, also gradually regains his peak 1:48 form from 2007 and took 3rd.





1. Zhang Lin (Beijing) 1:47.54 (1:49.26p)


2. Jiang Haiqi (Shanghai) 1:49.25 (1:51.26p)


3. Zhang Enjian (Tianjin) 1:49.61 (1:51.20p)





M100m back


Almost a repeat of the podium positions from last year meet. Reigning champion, Cheng Feiyi who won at 54.99 last year, captured the title again at 55.24. Asian champion in this event, He Jianbin, placed 3rd. Diao Jigong, 200m back champion last year, took 2nd.





1. Cheng Feiyi (Liaoning) 55.24


2. Diao Jigong (Navy) 55.39


3. He Jianbin (Guangdong) 55.67

Huang Liang (Navy) 56.15p




M100m breaststroke


NR holder Zhang Guoying (1:01.15 in 2009) and 1:01.2 swimmer Wang Shuai once again had another clash after a series of head-to-head competitions last year (World championships, national games, East Asian Games and Asian Championships) and Wang won by 0.17s this time. Lai Zhongjian, a 2004 Olympic and world championship semifinalist and a former 200m breaststroke NR holder, took 3rd with a pb of 1:02.02.





1. Wang Shuai (Beijing) 1:01.77


2. Zhang Guoying (Guangdong) 1:01.94


3. Lai Zhongjian (Navy/Guangxi) 1:02.02 (1:02.14p)





W200m fly


There seems to be no effect on Jiao Liuyang after the plastic suit took off when she won her pet event at 2:5.46, similar to what she did last year. Liu Zige was not in the race. National Games 3rd placer, Gong Jie, who trains with Jiao in the same team, got 2nd and Hebei's Ha Sinan also performed consistently and did a fine time of 2:9.55. After the race, Jiao said her body is not considered "a very heavy type" so the plastic suit would not do much effect on her.





1. Jiao Liuyang (Guangzhou army/Heilongjiang) 2:5.46 (2:11.91p)


2. Gong Jie (Guangzhou army) 2:8.12 (2:10.24p)


3. Ha Sinan (Hebei) 2:9.55

4. Deng Biying (Hubei) 2:9.73





M100m fly


Zhou Jiawei pulled out last year due to a back injury but won today at a fine 52.61, compared with NR at 51.24 last year. This could be his last season of his career. He wants to qualify for Asian Games which holds in his home province, Guangdong. 200m fly specialist, Chen Yin, also a world championships finalist in 2007, placed 2nd and National Game 3rd placer in 200m fly, Chen Weiwu, was third. 2008 Olympic semifinalist, Shi Feng, only took 6th.





1. Zhou Jiawei (Guangdong) 52.61


2. Chen Yin (Hebei) 53.44


3. Chen Weiwu (Shandong) 53.66


6. Shi Feng (Shanghai) 54.33

Sun Bowei (Henan) 54.24p



W400m IM


Asian record holder, 16-year-old, Li Xuanxu, is still in the top form who won at 4:34.59, faster than the former non-plastic suit Area record set by Chen Yan in 1997 (4:34.79). Having been a double Olympic finalist in 2008 (400m IM and 800m free), Li has been a consistent sub 4-40 swimmer since 2007 but she had only raced in 2 international meets so far (Olympics 2008 and Japan Open 2007). The level of competition is really high this time when all top 3 swam below 4:38. Zhejiang seems to do much better in the IM events with 2 swimmers in the top 3.





1. Li Xuanxu (Hunan) 4:34.59


2. Zheng Rongrong (Zhejiang) 4:37.68


3. Ye Shiwen (Zhejiang) 4:37.97 (4:42.03p)





W100m back


A repeat of medalists from National Game but the champion switched to Gao Chang who scored a sizzling 55.6-55.7 in shortcourse in Japan open earlier in Feb. Zhao Jing, Asian record holder at 58.96, just had an nasal operation not very long ago. It is expected not to have a fast time in this meet since she is in the midst of recovering. Zhou Yanxin, also a sub 1:00 swimmer, was a distant 3rd.





1. Gao Chang (Shandong) 59.69


2. Zhao Jing (Hubei) 1:00.06 (1:1.46p)


3. Zhou Yanxin (Shanghai) 1:00.98





W4x200m free

After retirement of Xu Yanwei and Zhu Yingwen, both core members in the national team over years, Shanghai 4x200m team does not seem to be affected much with new blood like Tang Yi and Zhu Qianwei who are already at 1:56-1:57 and veteran Pang, Asian holder at 1:55.05.
1. Shanghai (Tang Yi, Lu Ying, Zhu Qianwei, Pang Jiaying) 8:01.88


2. Shandong 8:03.90


3. Beijing 8:05.50





M4x100m free


1. Guangdong 3:21.71


2. Jiangsu 3:24.43


3. Zhejiang 3:24.50

Retired swimmers after national games

Women's free
Zhu Yingwen
Yang Yu

Women's breaststroke
Qi Hui

Women's backsroke
Zhan Shu

Women's fly
Zhou Yafei

Men's IM
Zhao Tao

Chinese spring national championshipps postponed til tomorrow

Chinese Spring nationals ("National champion meet") will only start tomorrow due to today's natiaonal mourning for the Apr 14 Earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai province. No entertainment events are allowed today. Furthermore, the competition schedule will be shortened and Olympic champion, Liu Zige won't be competiting, according to her coach, Jin Wei who accompanied his another swimmer, Shi Feng, the fly specialist, in Shaoxing for the meet. Liu is currently training in Shanhai gate (Near Great wall area). She and her coach donated RMB200,000 for the earthquake relief. Double world silver medalist, Wu Peng, is currently training in the US and won' t be here.

There will still be a stardom in these competitions including Zhang Lin (world champion in men's 800m free), Zhao Jing (world champion in women's 50m back), Jiao Liuyang (Olympic silver medalist in women's 200m fly), Gao Chang (World championships bronze medalist in women's 50m back) and Zhou Jiawei (men's 50m fly Asian record holder). By the way, Qi Hui, former women's 200m breaststroke WR holder finally made her decision to retire after a long career of 12 years since 1998 Asian Games. Yang Yu, a triple LC world champ. medalist in women's 200m free and a two-time SC world champion in 200m free, also moved on after National Games but Olympic bronze medalist, Pang Jiaying, who is at the same age as Yang, will still stay in the pool for another Olympic cycle. Another notable retiree includes 29-year-old veteran swimmer, Zhu Yingwen, 2005 World bronze medalist in women's 50m free. She has been suffering from the hip dislocation throughout her career and one time she needed to snap her hip back in the midst of the race. Hope all these great swimmers have great futures.

11-year old talent selected to Chinese swimming national team

A news report a couple days ago described a 11-year old girl named Li Terter who has been starring in a number of movies and TV drama and now becomes one in the Chinese swimming team training under Han Bingyan, who has a IM World champion, Chen Yan and a World championships 200m breaststroke finalist, Luo Nan under his belt. According to the report, she had an experience of acting with Tony Leung Ka Fai, a veteran HK actor who was featuring in French moive, L'amant (or The Lover ) in 1992. at 11, She stands at 1.63m and holds a feet size of 39 (??). She has not received any high-volume training but already shown her talent in the swimming competition of her age in Chongqing city (Chongqing = Chungking (express), the movie from Wang Kar Wei) where the swimmer team no longer exists. Her coach and the leaders from the city sports council noticed her great talent and took her to Beijing probing her way into the probation training in the national team. When the Chinese national head coach, Yao Zhenjie saw them, he immediately suggested her to go back first and only train with the team during the school holidays. However, when he saw her in the splash and her great physical conditions (feet and hand size), he changed his mind. Her coach in Chongqing city gave an explanation on Li's case that Yao deceided to take her in because Li is like a unpolished jade in swimming that she has not received any high-volume training and she cannot even do any chin-ups due to her undeveloped physical strength but she has shown very convincing talent in swimming.

Comparison: Chinese athletes in Asian track and field championships and National Games

Just less than a month after National Games (NG), Asian indoor games and Asian track and field championships (AC) were held in Asia. Here is the comparison of the results of Chinese athletes between NG and AC. Only the athletes competing in AC are listed accompanied with their NG results:

NG/AC
M100m
Zhang Peimeng: 10.32 (2nd)/10.28 (1st)
Guo Fan: 10.41 (3rd)/10.37 (3rd)
NG champion: Lu Bin 10.27
Both ran slightly faster than NG. Hope Zhang will take down the NR soon.

M200m
Wang Chengliang: 21.00 (4th)/21.54(p), 21.61(sf)
Liang Jiahong: 21.26 (7th)/22.79(h)
NG champion: Li Mingxuan 20.79
Both below par

M400m
Liu Xiaosheng: 46.02 (1st)/46.17 (2nd, h), 46.55 (1st)
Zhou Jie (ZJ): 48.88 (16th,h)/48.28 (15th,h)
Liu maintained his form pretty well

M800m
Li Xiangyu: 1:49.19 (1st)/1:58.30 (18th, last in heat)
Xia Xiudong (ZJ): 1:50.39 (3rd)/1:52.61 (10th, heat)
Both were top 3 in NG but did terrrible in AC.

M1500m
Yu Zhiyang (FJ): 3:47.77 (10th)/ 3:47.58 (8th,h), 3:49.48 (6th)
Zhang Guolin (SD): 3:48.65 (11th)/3:47.53 (5th,h), 3:52.41 (8th)
NG champion: Sun Wenli 3:44.98
Both did better than NG

M5000m
Tian Mengxu (HN): 13:39.53 (2nd)/14:09.70 (5th)
Yang Dinghong (PLA): 13:50.43 (9th)/14:18.00 (7th)
NG champion: Lin Xiangqian 13:38.77
Below par

M 10000m
Dong Guojian (YN): 28:17.60 (2nd)/29:13.44 (5th)
Cheng Tao (SD): 29:36.80 (10th)/29:38.74 (7th)
NG champion: Tian Mengxu 28:15.06
Below par, but both men's 000 and 10000m runners have shown great improvement in the last 2 years. The time is improving. Hopefully, 1st sub-28:00 mark will come shortly.

M3000m steeplechase
Lin Xiangqian: 8:27.14 (2nd)/8:34.13 (2nd)
Yang Le (Inner Mongolia): 8:46.69 (6th)/ 8:50.58 (7th)
NG champion: Sun Wenli 8:25.11
Lin is the only few who dares to challenge the former Africans. It is the 2nd major challenge after 2006 AG when he led all his way in most of the race and finished 3rd at the end.

M110mh
Liu Xiang: 13.34 (1st)/13.50 (1st)
Shi Dongpeng: 13.63 (3rd)/13.67 (2nd)
Liu and Shi are always Asian top 110m hurdler


M400mh
Chen Dayu: 51.28 (4th)/ 52.61 (9th, h)
NG champion: Meng Yan 50.04
Chen is still inexperienced.

MHJ
Huang Haiqiang: 2.23m (3rd)/2.23m (2nd)
Chen Cheng: 2.20m (4th)/2.05m (12th)
NG champion: Zhang Shufeng 2.28m
Huang still has not regained his 2006 form (2.32m).

MLJ
Li Jinzhe: 8.18m (2nd)/8.16m (1st)
Yu Zhenwei (PLA): 7.80m (8th)/7.96m (3rd)
NG champion: Zhang Xiaoyi 8.27m
Another consistent performance for Li who has been jumping 8m++ on many occasions this year including recent world champ. Yu also showed his usual near 8m jump.

MTJ
Zhu Shujing: 17.41m (2nd)/16.67m (2nd)
NG champion: Li Yanxi 17.59m
With injuries, it's hard to get Zhu to repeat his 17.4m jump this time.

MPV
Liu Feiliang: 5.60m (1st)/5.60m (1st)
Yang Quan: 5.60m (2nd)/5.45m (2nd)
Liu requested 5.80m in NG and AC. His focus is no longer mediocre 5.50-5.70 region. Maybe too ambigious at the moment. Yang is still not very consistent.

MSP
Guo Yanxiang: 19.11m (2nd)/19.07m (4th)
Zhang Jun: 17.78m (10th)/19.15m (3rd)
NG champion: Jia Peng 19.20m
Zhang has been the domestic leader this year but did terribly in NG (due to the pressure from the authorities, probably) and came back strong with a 19m++ throw. Guo did exactly what he can perform in the competition.

MHT
Ma Liang: 71.01 (1st)/ 70.08 (3rd)
Qi Dakai: 70.77 (2nd)/65.60m (8th)
Ma has been a 74m thrower once so 70m is not too bad but it is still tough for these chinese throwers to compete with the Asian best.

MDT
Wu Tao: 51.58 (13th)/59.27 (3rd)
Wu Jian: 60.07 (2nd)/NM
NG champion: Li Shaojie 60.39m
A falling event for China with Iranian dominating with 64m++ throw. 59-61m no longer can win Asian title for Chinese throwers.

MJT
Wang Qingbo: 78.73m (3rd)/80.25m (2nd)
Qin Qiang: 77.45m (4th)/80.08m (3rd)
NG champion: Chen Qi 79.57m
WC bronze medalist Murakami won the event with ease but these Chinese throwers really raised up the bar to challenge a little. It's also the 1st 80m throw for Wang. Both did far better than NG. Hope still exists in AG next year.

M20km walk
Li Jianbo: 1:19:10 (2nd)/1:22:55 (1st)
Chu Yafei: 1:20:27 (3rd)/1:22:56 (2nd)
NG champion: Wang Hao 1:18:13
Li and Chu have been the no.2 and 3 in China so it's not surprised they won. The times were considered good.

M Dec
Zhu Hengjun: 7708 (3rd)/7200 (3rd)
Liu Haibo: 7427 (4th)/DNF
Zhu still comes short to be a strong contender in Asia. Liu seems to have one strong discipline: high jump (2.12m) and I don't know when he will improve in others.

W100m
Tao Yujia: 11.68 (3rd)/11.63 (4th)
Chen Jue: 11.51 (2nd)/11.78 (6th)
NG champion: Jiang Lan 11.50
Tao still has a lot to improve in her mid race. She has a great start but always fades in the middle.

W200m
Jiang Lan: 23.48 (2nd)/23.65 (3rd)
Lai Weijie: 23.81 (4th)/24.08 (5th)
NG champion: Chen Jue 23.45
Both did slightly slower

W400m
Chen Lin: 52.96 (2nd)/53.55 (2nd)
Tang Xiaoyin: 53.39 (4th)/ 54.10 (6th)
NG champion: Huang Xiaoxiao 52.23
A weak event and Chinese 400m runners are getting slower.

W800m
Zhou Haiyan: 2:3.00 (1st)/2:04.89 (1st)
Liu Qing: 2:05.50 (4th)/2:05.62 (1st, h), 2:07.36 (5th)
Zhou still has a lot to prove after NG and AC champion although she wants to be next "Liu Xiang" in women 800m. Liu, after winning NG titles 4 years ago, has not improved by 0.01s for last 4 years, is finally doomed to fail in both NG and AC.

W1500m
Liu Fang: 4:18.62 (4th)/4:33.35 (2nd)
Zhou Haiyang: -/4:32.74 (1st)
NG Champion: Xue Fei 4:18.26
Liu has been a consistent 4:13-4:15 runner but it's still not very optimistic for her to excel, even at Asian level.

W5000m
Xue Fei: 15:11.72 (1st)/16:05.19 (1st)
Xue did not improve since 2007 at 15:02. If she is still comfortable with her 15:10-15:20 pace, she will no longer be able to challenge the world best.

W10000m
Bai Xue: 31:17.62 (1st)
Wang Jiali: 33:14.68 (11th)

Bai is still shadowed by the controversy of her coach so her future is still a uncertainty although she is determined to win more next year and to be in London. Wang should be more comfortable to stick around in the domestic scene.

W100mh
Sun Yawei: 13.17 (2nd)/13.19 (1st)
NG champion: Liu Jing 13.15
Sun is a vet student who has been complimented by Liu Xiang's coach, Sun Haiping. A lot to do to help her excel. Like her senior in Jiangsu province, Su Yiping, peaked at 12.9 form and ran 12.70 once at wind-aided condition. Unless her training method can be refined, Sun would still be a 12 high and 13 low hurdler.

W400mh
Yang Qi: 56.83 (3rd)/59.62 (4th)
NG champion: Huang Xiaoxiao 55.49
Still very young runner from Sichuan who does both 400m hurdler and 800m which I don't see it very often in China.

WLJ
Chen Yaling: 6.58m (2nd)/6.28m (2nd)
Bao sha: 5.88m (17th, h)/DNS
NG chempion: Lu Minjia (ZJ) 6.74m
Damn it, Chen. She did heaps of 6.5 and her best was only 6.62m. Being a 25yo, there is not much time she can catch up. Bao did quite well in the 1st half of 2009 but faded in the NG terribly. Lu won the NG at 6.74m which is the longest for 4 years. Hope she is not just a one-jump winner.

WTJ
Xu Tingting: 13.69m (5th)/14.11m (2nd)
NG champion: Chen Yufei (SD) 14.11m
Xu equaled the winning mark in NG. She will do better next year.

WHJ
Zheng Xingjuan: 1.95m (1st)/1.93m (1st)
Gu Xuan (PLA): 1.88m (3rd)/
Finally, Zheng won her 1st Asian champion at 1.93m. Not sure if this year is her final breakthrough (hopefully not) but she really carries the women's high jump for China.

WPV
Li Caixia: 4.40m (2nd)/4.30m (1st)
Wu Sha: 4.40m (1st)/4.15m (2nd)
Still looking for the 2nd 4.50m candidate after Gao Shuying. Bunch of 4.4 vaulters have emerged but the space and time seem to stop there. Wu has been at 4.30m back in 2004 or 2005 but only improved to 4.40m this year. What's wrong with her training?

WSP
Gong Lijiao 20.35m (1st)/19.04m (1st)
Liu Xiaorong 18.41m (4th)/17.55 (2nd)
Gong demonstrated her consistency in 2009 and won bronze in world champ. she is now a 20m thrower.

WJT
Liu Chunhua 60.65m (1st)/57.93m (1st)
Li Lingwei 55.72 (7th)/55.13m (2nd)
A bunch of comet-like throwers have been streaking across the sky but there are no consistent one. From Xue Juan to Chang Chunfeng, no Asian game title has been won since 1994.

WHT
Zhang Wenxiu 74.25m (1st)/72.07 (1st)
Hao Shuai 67.63m (2nd)/65.87m (2nd)
Zhang is undisputedly no. 1 HT in Asia but it seems that she has not been able to improve since 2007. Now, WR is at 77-78 region and Zhang is still at 74-75m.

WDT
Song Aimin 65.44m (2nd)/63.90m (1st)
Ma Xuejun 60.64m (4th)/63.63 (2nd)
Song still showed her experience is important with last throw getting past Ma's leading mark.

W20km walk
Liu Hong: 1:28:11 (1st)/DQ
Yang Yawei: 1:31:11 (5th)/1:34:11 (2nd)
Except Liu, more walkers should step up or Japanese walkers will eat away the pie.

W hep
Mei Yiduo 5689 (1st)/5460 (3rd)
Sun Lu 5363 (3rd)/4963 (4th)
Another unimproving event. The NG winning score has been getting lower and lower.

Exciting! Disappointment! track and field in Chinese national games

11th Chinese National Games (CNY) finally drew the curtains in Jinan. Most of the track and field results were quite normal, except for a few... There was no WRs from Ma's army or Li Xuemei's 10.79s in women's 100m. If you really want me to pick which result is the most suspicious, it could be the women's discus (although I don't think so). Li Yanfeng, from Heilongjiang province, threw a 66.40m to make no. 1 in the world this year. I would say Li is a consistent 60m++ thrower (for 9 straight seasons) and she already did 64m thrower a few years back. However, she was suffered from injuries for the last few years but she was still a finalist in Olympics last year. I still remembered in one media report about 2 years ago that she said she was so excited with the training camp in Germany although her injuries had not been cleared and she could not give up such good opportunities. Finally, her efforts paid off. She is now 30 years old and thrower normally has a very long career like Sadova, who I think is over 40 is still throwing. Nowadays, China seems to have a little more experience on prolonging athletes' career. Don't forget, World cup bronze medalist and mutiple WC and Olympic finalist, Song Aimin is at 31 and still going strong. Song threw 65.44m this time for 2nd place.

Disappointment... Wang Jing from Fujian province... I don't want to believe it. 11.50s, a very modest women's 100m winning time was caused by steroid. I can't believe it. She was the only B-qualifier in last year Olympics and she was only 20 years old by the time. A girl from Fujian province toppled the dominance from the tradional strong provinces like Jiangsu province was once a wonder girl and has been top 8 in the last 2 years together with Jiangsu's Jiang Lan, Qin Wangping and Chen Jue, and also Jiangxi's Tao Yujia. They all have different styles of techniques and although their times wander between 11.4 and 11.6, these at least reflect a more realistic picture in current women's sprinting in China. Wang was on 11.42s last year and 11.43 last month and she won the sprining queen in national games at 11.50s. Then she was pulled away by the official when she was doing her preparation a few minutes before women's 200m final. By then, no one knew why she was pulled out, even her team mate, Huang Jingju. The next day, her news broke out. Although I don't want to believe, this has become an irreversible truth. The reason I don't want to believe is because she was not running some stunning time like 10.9 or 10.6 and she barely won the event at 11.50...

Veterans still in the field
Li Shaojie and Liu Jing, also Li Rongxiang
Li Shaojie, at 34, won his 1st national games title in men's discus in 1993(!!) and competed 5 editions bagging 4 golds and 1 silver (1997) including this edition. He still holds NR at 65.16m
Liu Jing, at 32, won her 2nd consecutive national games titles in women's 100m hurdle to end her career at a full note. She was runner-up in 1997 at 12.76s and did not compete in 2001.
Li Rongxiang, at 37, won national games twice in 2001 and 2005 and held the national record at 84.29m and national junior record. all the young throwers in the field respect him a lot and address him "brother xiang". He finished 16th.

Excitment
28-year-old NR and 14-year-old AR of men's triple jump were broken on the last day of the competition. This time, 2 jumpers did the feat on the same occasion to beat the oldest NR in Chinese track and field. NR and AR stood at 17.34m and 17.35m, respectively. The original record holder, Zou Zhenxian set the old record in 1981 and since then, there have been so many attempts for the record but ended up in vain. Zou, himself, is also worried about this and started organizing "Zou Zhenxian Challenge" every year from 2000 and hoped the young jumpers one day can jump past his what they called "a record of old mustache". I think this really did something and there have been more than 5 17m-jumpers over the last 9 years including Sichuan's Gu Junjie, Shandong's Zhong Minwei, Hunan's Wu Bo, Zhejiang's Zhu Shujing, Hebei's Wu Ji, Li Yanxi and Cao Shuo. Finally, Li who has been very consistent for the last few years broke the dusty "spell" at 17.59m on his 4th attempt. Zhu Shujing, also trained with Li did 17.41m to surpass the old record. It appears to me a compensation for a long wait of the new record. I was impressed by Li since 2005 (2006?) when he jumped 17.15m outside China in Eugene (Reebok GP, I guess). In 2006 Asian Games in Doha, I followed the real time results and he only managed to overtake the leader on his last attempt, also an only 17m++ jump, to win the gold. In 2008 Olympics, he jumped 17.30m in the heats but only managed sub-17m jumps in the final. He went one step further in recent world champ. when he did 17.27m in heats and 17.23m in final to finish 6th. Finally, he did 17.59m.
The 2nd excitment is Gong Lijiao's 20.35m in women's shot put. Gong is coached by Li Meisu who is still the AR holder with 21.76m since 1988. Li only ended his career in 2001. Before Gong, Li has coached Li Meiju, the world indoor bronze medalist from last year who has been among the top throwers in the world. Gong's 20.35 is the only 20m++ from China since 1997. Last year was her breakout year when she finished 4th in Olympics and she stepped up to bronze in recent world championships. Both Li Yanxi and Gong Lijiao have traceable trails leading up to the results this time and I hope they can keep up with good work

Others: Zheng Xingjuan won women's high jump at 1.95m which has been the best result for the last 10 years. She has been the top jumper since 2006 and did not improve much over the years wandering 1.90-1.93m region. Zheng's next goal will be the NR at 1.97 set by Jin Ling, a record more than 20 years. Liu Xiang won 110m hurdle at 13.34, the 2nd race after his comeback and this has been his 3rd victory in national games since 2001. I want to downplay a little on Liu Xiang because I got really sick of how Chinese media heavily focuses on Liu. When I watched the National Games in CCTV5, they spent so much time spying on him a few hours before the race when he just did his stretching, jumping and putting on clothes or gloves and there was really nothing important to see. I think this kind of things will be getting more ridiculous once he starts racing more. I am not against Liu, honestly. I noticed him since 2000 world junior champ. when he finished 4th and 2001 National GP when he was 18 years old, beat Chen Yanhao (who is Asia no. 1 before Liu's rise) and broke the Asian junior record at 13.32. He also set 13.12 World junior record in Zurich the next year. He achieved so much but I think the hype is just too overwhelming in China and they can't cope it well. Especially when he pulled out from Olympics, all the negative comments surfaced regardless of the breakthroughs he had made for this event. Huang Xiaoxiao, two-time fifth placer in world champ. in women's 400m hurdle, unfortunately raced an hour before Liu and said after winning that today does not just belong to Liu Xiang but also all the finalists in women's 400m hurdle. Well-said.

Chinese national championships: after 3 days, 2 Asian records have been broken

Before the great "national games" to be held in Jinan, Shandong Province, the last 3 days of Chinese summer national championships already witnessed 2 Asian records and heaps of fast times but most of them were produced by technology-enhanced suits ("tech-aid suit" to be used below). Men's 50m free AR was broken again by Shi Runqiang at 21.95s in Blueseventy suit, as reported in the Chinese media. He already did 22.24 in April and then 22.13 in June breaking Yamanoi's 22.18s-AR and Cai Li's 22.19-NR. Shi was 22.48 last year and this year, he leapt to be the 1st Asian men to swim below 22.0s. Anyway, the suit's aid cannot be denied. We will see what time he will swim soon when no tech-aid suit is allowed.

The 2nd AR broken was Luo Xuejuan's winning time in women's 100m breaststroke at 2004 Athen Olympics and after so many Chinese breaststrokers has been rising recently, Ji Liping is finally capturing the record in 1:05.32, 1:32s faster than Luo's previous record. Ji has been 3rd in 2005 national games and 1:08.61 swimmer in 2006 and won 50m breaststroke in Asian Games in the same year. She was 9th in 50m breastroke semifinal in 2007 Melbourne World Championships but she lost her form since and managed only 1:09.96 and 1:09.65 in the past 2 years. This year, she showed sign of her comeback, getting second place at spring national championships in April with 1:07.29 and now, she became AR holder and 4th in all time (behind Jones, Hardy and Sony). Currently, Ji Liping is under the training of British coach David Lyles in Shanghai team and Ji said after her win that David helped her re-believe herself after a 2-year setback. Ji swam in Jaked and it will be the last time for Chinese swimmers to swim in tech-aid suits since Chinese swimming Asscociation (CSA) has banned the use of these suits in the upcoming national games and how fast Ji can swim in normal suit will be found out soon.

One interesting thing is that when the chinese team competed in the world championships in Roma last month, a lot of coaches helped their provincial swimmers purchase tech-aid suits like Jaked for the national games and it seemed like they spent a lot of money on that. Recently, CSA banned the suits in national games which i think it is a good thing since I guessed not every provincial team has the wealth like Shanghai team to get so many suits. Therefore, this national championships would be their last display of their Roma fashion.

Surprising Chinese run in Swimming world Championships in Roma 2009

It comes the last day of swimming competition. It took all by surprise (including me) that Chinese team did so much better this time, a year that notorious Chinese National Games will be held in Shandong Province in a couple of months. Up to this point, Chinese team won 4 golds, 2 silvers and 3 bronze (9 overall) compared to 1 silver and 1 bronze in last edition and 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze in Beijing. The new generation of Chinese swimmers really have no fear against the world best this time since they know they are up for the challenge and they did it.

After the wins, it is one of the typical moments the Western swimming society had doubts on the results. This time, they add one more thing: suit. There are a lot of communication problems between China and the rest of the world which may always make Chinese swimming remain a secret operation. Chinese media actually is in general poorly informative in swimming event especially after Chinese swimming no longer medal well in major competitions. Like Athletics, the whole athletics page in Chinese sports website is delidicated to Liu Xiang. They only chase and analyze a little more for those who can medal. They don't care enough. Without solid base of media in China dedicated to Chinese swimming, all my information in the domestic competitions is gathered from fragments of reports in the provincial or general sports websites in China. If this is so, how can the Western swimming fans or media know more about them. Unlikely. Everytime when they medal and one of the swimmers did well, they would say xxx coming out from no where or xxx last year is on (this time) and the time drop this year is xxx which is too dramatic to believe if it is true. One thing I noticed such a miscommunications is from swimnews.com who reported the girl who received the bronze medal on behalf of Gao Chang in women's 50m back is Zhu Qianwei and he sensed something fishy about this since he mentioned same situation happened in 1994. According to reports in China, Gao's absence was due to a slight delay in urine testing which the organizer could not wait for her to start the medal ceremony. Since China also won the 4x200m free relay and the medal ceremony was followed by the women's 50m back, the quartet from China was also waiting in the scene. Italian organizer just picked a random Chinese girl from the quartet and the "lucky girl" was Liu Jing (not Zhu as reported). After the ceremony, Gao Chang came back and joined the medalists. Furthermore, when the WRs were punched like a paper puncher after the introduction of suits like LZR, Craig Lord, a dedicated swimnews.com reporter had a lot of reports on how the all time lists have been affecting. One time, he listed out the women's 400m IM list and put a note next to Chen Yan and Wu Yanyan something like "positive in subsequent drug test". Poor Chen who may be mistaken for the other Chen Yan, once a top national backstroker in late 1990s from Jiangsu province and test positive for steriod in 1999. I pointed out to him by email and he insisted he is right so nothing I can do for the clarification. Her under-par performance after 1998 was mainly due to intensive training that caused her stomach problems and shoulder injuries. After 2000 Olympics, she rested totally without any competition and managed to put out some great performance at the end of 2001 in national Games. She chose to retire since she did not want to train under the national team which may worsen her conditions. One more thing on the confusion of the names is from swiminfo when there is a dedicated statistician who made a lot of errors in the performances from China in the all time list. Like Zhao Jing in backstroke, you also can find her early performance under different person's name like Jin Zhao. The other funny one is Xutian Longzi. This kind of "double surname " like "Xu+tian" is getting popular nowadays. In the list, they have Xu tianlongzi and Longzi Xutian. It is kinda funny but this is the barrier that it is hard to break between China and the Western world.

I think later more and more people will say things on Chen Huijia's 1:04 leg in 4x100 medley relay since she only swam 1:07.2 in semifinal of 100m breastroke finishing 12th. This is already her pb. Chen has already been in the domestic scene quite some time. She is a 1:09 swimmer since 2005 and improved to 1:08.13 last year winning the Olympic trial. She made it to the semi final. She also competed in world champ 2007 as well. She is always more like a sprinter since she normally comes out very fast in the 1st 50m swimming 31 low or 30 high but her endurance was not so impressive. Her pb in 200m breast was 2:30 before Roma world champ but she did a 2:26 in heats this time which I think it is a good sign for the endurance part. 2:26, is not quite good enough nowadays to make the last 16 but I saw it and think she is still in a pretty good shape after 100m. In the heats of medley relay, she did 1:05 which surprised me since before the race, I think the breaststroke and free will be wildcards for China and they are kinda unpredictable. What I mean is it could be weak compared to other top teams and it can be really competitive that at least they can hold off those stronger opponents. I cannot imagine Chen swam 1:04.12, the fastest split among all breastrokers. Last year, she did not make to the final of individual event so Chinese team picked the finalist, Sun Ye who did 1:07 split which was like 2-3 seconds behind the great Jones. This time, Chen really stepped up and recovered the loss of Luo Xuejuan, who retired prematurely due to her heart condition. It is noted that both Luo and Chen are in the same provincial team and they know how to produce fine breastrokers. I believe Chen already has 1:06 in her but with the suit, the improvement is doubled. For Chen, this swim could be one of the times and platform for her to gain more confidence in herself.

Probably, people will still think Chinese are cheaters on (1) drug issue: Scandals in 1994 and 1998 together with Wu Yanyan in 2000 and Ouyang Kunpeng in 2008 are still lingering deep down in the swimming world. I am with you and always be alert. Once caught, no matter swimmers from China or other countries, they normally denied using drugs deliberately (who would?) and may put out some typical explanations like misusing some kinds of flu medicine or supplements (Hardy's case) or having barbaque (for Ouyang's case and Zhou Jie's case in 2005) or even mis-drinking mineral water doped by their rivals or admirers. Who knows if they are saying the truth? I think it is a good thing to store the athletes' samples for later test once any new technique is invented. I think some of the Olympic medalists from last year were busted this way. Although international swimming society has seen the efforts from China on drug problem, the low level of infomation exchange due to language barrier (attributing to low circulation of translated swimming news from China) does no good to make their swimmers known to the world swimming. This situation will continue; (2) Suit issue: I think all swimmers who medalled are wearing technology-assisted suits. No matter it is LZR, hydrofoil, Arena X-glide and Jaked01, swimmers get the extra assistance and the difference is the extent the suit can help one swimmer. If it is so strict, all swimmers in the field are cheaters and non-cheaters (or suckers) are those who still wear fabric brief. No matter it is a swimming world or business world, people definitely would do something "legal" to get the edge over their opponents. It is more than normal. When there are people involved, it is hard to keep it innocent like a glass of pure water. The drug is one thing and the suit is the other. People may think Craig Lord is cynical but I think he is more like a watchdog trying to keep the pool from the impurities. I think it is a good thing. Probably, there will be other thing that puts the world swimming into the tornado again. Never knows.

Liu Zige, shaky future?

Chinese swimming team arrived Rome a few days ago and Chinese media started going around and gathering infomation for their big guns. One of these is Olympian champion, Liu Zige. After a surprising win in women's 200m fly, Liu, her coach, Jin Wei and Shi Feng (semi-finalist in men's 100m fly) fled to Australia for the training camp. She competed in Australian NC and then Chinese NC in April where she did 2:07 low which was considered a good time. Definitely, People in China expected more since she swam a sensational WR 2:04.18 at Olympics.

Today, there was a media report about her coach, Jin Wei who appeared to be frustrated about their current siutation. In the report, he said, "Please leave Liu alone. We don't want to be famous and she is just an ordinary national swimmer. There is no good to be famous." The journalist came up with something skin-deep,"Liu with fame can shoot commercials" Jin refuted," Liu only shot 2 commericals and she only earned 10,000 and 6,600 bucks from them. What's good for being famous?"

the journalist then turned the focus to the training cost. First, she mentioned 2 million of the training allowance for Tao Li in Singapore. Tao is a former Chinese swimmer from Hubei Province who is now representing Singapore and was a 4th placer in 100m butterfly at Olympics. (Surprisingly, Tao's father, Tao Rong is the manager of HuBei swimming team which has been rising in domestic scene for the last few years and has produced fine swimners such as Zhao Jing and Li Jiaxing who competed in Olympics). In contrast, Jin Wei's training operation is rather traditional. After he came back from Australia in 1995, he founded a swimming school on his own in Liaoning province where Liu and Shi Feng started their swimming training. In 2004, Shanghai was organizing an athlete selection event and Jin and his disciples were selected to join Shanghai team which had produced Olympic champions such as Yang Wenyi, Zhuang Yong and Le Jingyi. I guess, the facilities in Shanghai should be superior to other province. As far as I know, Shanghai has produced world class sportsman like Yao Ming (NBA player), Liu Xiang (men's 110m hurdle world champion and Olympic champion in 2004) and Qian Zhenhua (men's modern penthalon world champion in 2005) and a lot more. Yao should be 2nd or 3rd Chinese NBA player (sorry, not a fan for professional basketball) and the latter two are unprecedented in China. It appears to me Shanghai is one of the important places where symbolizes the breakthough of Chinese sports.

The report then mentioned in 2007, Jin sold his car to build a pool for training of Liu and Shi and after Liu's win at Olympics, the 1st thing she wanted to spend is to get her coach a new car. However, with all the glory behind them, a new financial problem is standing in the way of Jin. They fled to Australia for training camp this January and all the costs were dipped from Jin's pocket which greatly worried him. He sighed, "I may retire after bankcrucy."

Talking about swimmers' future, He said," It is uncertain and I have no clue whether they will be on the next meet (National Games). I have no idea what will be happening tomorrow. Now, I only have Liu and Shi and when Liu retires, I will go too. When the time comes, I may do something else (rather than coaching). Being an ordinary man is pretty much what I want."

There is full of uncertainties in Jin but when the topic turns to the competition in Rome, he restores his confidence,"We don't have pressure. We come here not to sit back because we are representing China. We will go all out or we don't go out."