London 2012 Olympics: Chinese women point to future of swimming
London 2012 Olympics: Chinese women point to future of swimming
London Olympic Games
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Mon Aug 23, 2010 @ 04:33PM
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SINGAPORE: The future of women's swimming revealed itself at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore, and it had a distinctly Chinese flavour. Less than two years away from the London Olympics, China's women won 11 medals at the Games here for 14 to 18-year-olds.
Individually, Tang Yi claimed six gold and Liu Lan five.
Tang, 17, was the standout performer and seems to have a limitless future, dominating the women's freestyle, winning the 50m, 100m and 200m events.
She was also part of China's 4x100m freestyle and the mixed 4x100m freestyle and medley relay race victories.
"The ambience of the audience and the loudness (of the crowd) really motivated me to do my best," Tang said.
"I'm actually quite happy but I can always do better."
Liu was equally impressive in winning five golds, including the 50m and 100m butterfly. Chinese backstroke specialist Bai Anqi also took home four gold medals while He Jianbin and Dai Jun were among Chinese men winning events.
While China's women were in top form, traditional swimming power Australia won the most medals overall of any team with 16.
Emily Selig, Nicholas Schafer and Kenneth To emerged as swimmers to watch as London 2012 draws nearer.
Selig is a powerful breaststroke swimmer who dominated the women's 200m race, while Schafer won gold in the men's 100m breaststroke. To was part of the winning youth men's 4x100 medley relay team.
"It's been tough for all of us," To said after taking bronze in the 100m freestyle.
"Competing for six days at the highest level has been mentally and physically tough. But it has been a good experience and it will prepare us for better meets in the future."
Ukraine also showed it intends to be a contender in London, with Daryna Zevina and Andrii Govorov winning five medals between them.
Zevina was a surprise gold medallist in the women's 100m backstroke, while Govorov earned the unofficial moniker of "world's fasted youth swimmer" by taking the men's 50m freestyle in 22.35secs.
The Youth Olympics, which run from August 14 to 26, are being held for the first time and feature 3,600 athletes aged 14 to 18 competing in the 26 Olympic sports.
It is designed as a stepping stone for youngsters striving to compete at an Olympics proper.
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