Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess

Jul 29, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Zhang Yufei (CHN) in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Zhang Yufei; Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports

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Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess

China’s swim program is too weighed down with medals to count as emerging any more. But at the very least, China’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics marks a potential inflection point.

Absent from these Games were arguably the two most recognizable names in the program’s recent history – one suspended for doping infractions (Sun Yang), one failing to qualify (Ye Shiwen). Yet China managed to still finish tied for fifth with six total medals from the pool. Even more impressive is the array of talent that got them there and the pair of relay medals that are indicative of the program’s depth.

The six medals fit with the recent history from China. It won six at the 2016 Rio Games and the 2008 home Games in Beijing before ramping up to 10 in London in 2012. But even that London tally featured a lone relay bronze, as opposed to relay gold (women’s 800 free) and silver (mixed medley) in Tokyo.

It can be difficult to remember that the Chinese program, as recently as the 2000 Sydney Games, was completely shut out of the medals, despite smatterings of success in the 1990s (much of it dogged by rumors if not many actual findings of doping, in the women’s program in particular).

Jul 29, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; China relay team celebrates their victory in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

China’s 800 free relay celebrates with Zhang Yufei, right, after winning gold; Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

The capstone performance was the women’s 800 free relay, in which Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie set the world record in 7:40.33. Yang’s outstanding opening leg of 1:54.37 built a two-second lead over the U.S., which clawed back all but four tenths in an American record that resulted in silver. All three medalists, with the Australians in bronze, undercut the old world record.

“We didn’t expect to win the gold,” Li said. “We just tried to finish third because Australia and the United States are very strong.”

That relay provided the Chinese story of the meet, with Zhang, fresh off gold in the women’s 200 fly, not told until after that swim that she would be on the relay.

“I didn’t know I was doing it until I’d finished the 200 butterfly and our coach told me, ‘you’re in the relay,’” she said. “I didn’t even know how to swim the 200 free, although I have the training qualities and levels for the 200m distances. At the Chinese National Championships, I went very fast, so maybe that’s why the coaches asked me to join the relay.”

“We knew Zhang would be swimming in the relay, but the coach told us not to tell her – she was the last one to know,” Li said. “We were inspired by her 200 butterfly and we were excited, and it made us determined to do our best at the relay. We were all in tears.”

Yang also brought home the mixed medley relay for silver with Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei and Zhang.

Zhang perpetuated one of the most impressive yet under-the-radar streaks in women’s swimming, China winning its third women’s 200 fly title in the last four Games. She joins Liu Zige in 2008 and Jiao Liuyang, who got silver in 2008, in 2012. Zhang added silver in the 100 fly. The 23-year-old’s performance in the 200 was utterly dominant, her picture-perfect stroke a thing of beauty.

“When I joined my coach, yes my priority was the 200 (butterfly), said Zhang, who finished sixth in the event in Rio. “Even until now I can’t tell what the priority is, 100 or 200. My priority is butterfly, that is it. My coach doesn’t want me to focus on the distance, but the race itself.”

China put finalists in all but five women’s events. They got successful programs from both Li, who won bronze in the 400 free, and Zhang. Yang was fourth in the 200 free, beating Katie Ledecky and Federica Pellegrini. Wang Jianjiahe scored a fourth and a fifth in the women’s distance events.

The medal tally came with limited contributions from the men, Wang Shun’s gold in the 200 individual medley the only piece of hardware. (He won bronze in the event in Rio). Xu, the two-time reigning men’s 100 back world champion, wasn’t a medal factor. And the obvious absence of Sun, whose six all-time medals is like a country unto himself, lowered the Chinese total. Ye, despite her turn in the spotlight at the 2012 Olympics, won silvers in the IMs at the 2019 World Championships but didn’t get to Tokyo.

The latest resurgence in Chinese swimming has had a technological assist. The South China Morning Post detailed how swimmers and other athletes (including the women’s quadruple sculls boat that won gold), have availed themselves of aerodynamics training with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The program exceeds simple wind-tunnel testing, with sensors used in missile development miniaturized to work on human bodies.

From SCMP:

CASC said space scientists spent more than a year modifying the technology and reduced the weight of a high-precision gyroscope to just a few grams, so it could be worn comfortably by a swimmer on shoulders and other joint areas without hindering movement.

The athletes were then positioned in a wind tunnel and tracked as they “swam” against the wind.

The simulation allowed the scientists to calculate the precise drag produced by different movements, CASC said.

Wang, as one of the leaders on the Chinese delegation and a relative veteran at 27, alluded to a considerably less technological reason for the success.

“The key lies in unity,” he said. “We have one single target and objective to achieve. Under such a structure, we have a lot of motivation to achieve this.”

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