{"id":484842,"date":"2021-08-06T12:56:08","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T19:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=484842"},"modified":"2021-08-06T12:56:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T19:56:08","slug":"olympics-with-relay-medals-china-announces-new-era-of-swim-prowess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympics-with-relay-medals-china-announces-new-era-of-swim-prowess\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess<\/strong><\/p>\n

China\u2019s swim program is too weighed down with medals to count as emerging any more. But at the very least, China\u2019s performance at the Tokyo Olympics marks a potential inflection point.<\/p>\n

Absent from these Games were arguably the two most recognizable names in the program\u2019s recent history \u2013 one suspended for doping infractions<\/a> (Sun Yang<\/strong>), one failing to qualify (Ye Shiwen<\/strong>). 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\u2019s depth.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 800 free) and silver (mixed medley) in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, in the women\u2019s program in particular).<\/p>\n

\"Jul

China’s 800 free relay celebrates with Zhang Yufei, right, after winning gold; Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n

The capstone performance was the women\u2019s 800 free relay, in which Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, Zhang Yufei<\/strong> and Li Bingjie <\/strong>set the world record in 7:40.33<\/a>. Yang\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t expect to win the gold,\u201d Li said. \u201cWe just tried to finish third because Australia and the United States are very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

That relay provided the Chinese story of the meet<\/a>, with Zhang, fresh off gold in the women\u2019s 200 fly<\/a>, not told until after that swim that she would be on the relay.<\/p>\n

“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,\u2019\u201d 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.”<\/p>\n

“We knew Zhang would be swimming in the relay, but the coach told us not to tell her \u2013 she was the last one to know,\u201d Li said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yang also brought home the mixed medley relay for silver with Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei<\/strong> and Zhang.<\/p>\n

Zhang perpetuated one of the most impressive yet under-the-radar streaks in women\u2019s swimming, China winning its third women\u2019s 200 fly title in the last four Games. She joins Liu Zige<\/strong> in 2008 and Jiao Liuyang,<\/strong> who got silver in 2008, in 2012. Zhang added silver in the 100 fly. The 23-year-old\u2019s performance in the 200 was utterly dominant, her picture-perfect stroke a thing of beauty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I joined my coach, yes my priority was the 200 (butterfly), said Zhang, who finished sixth in the event in Rio. \u201cEven until now I can\u2019t tell what the priority is, 100 or 200. My priority is butterfly, that is it. My coach doesn\u2019t want me to focus on the distance, but the race itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

China put finalists in all but five women\u2019s events. They got successful programs from both Li, who won bronze in the 400 free, and Zhang. Yang was fourth in the 200 free<\/a>, beating Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and Federica Pellegrini.<\/strong> Wang Jianjiahe<\/strong> scored a fourth and a fifth in the women\u2019s distance events.<\/p>\n

The medal tally came with limited contributions from the men, Wang Shun\u2019s<\/strong> gold in the 200 individual medley<\/a> the only piece of hardware. (He won bronze in the event in Rio). Xu, the two-time reigning men\u2019s 100 back world champion, wasn\u2019t 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<\/a>, won silvers in the IMs at the 2019 World Championships but didn\u2019t get to Tokyo.<\/p>\n

The latest resurgence in Chinese swimming has had a technological assist. The South China Morning Post<\/em> detailed how swimmers and other athletes<\/a> (including the women\u2019s quadruple sculls boat that won gold<\/a>), 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.<\/p>\n

From SCMP:<\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

The athletes were then positioned in a wind tunnel and tracked as they \u201cswam\u201d against the wind.<\/em><\/p>\n

The simulation allowed the scientists to calculate the precise drag produced by different movements, CASC said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key lies in unity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have one single target and objective to achieve. Under such a structure, we have a lot of motivation to achieve this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess China\u2019s swim program is too weighed down with medals to count as emerging any more. But at the very<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8367,"featured_media":483750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[34385,38,42280,50781,31742,128882,129138,27535,36791,50822,70359,27557,47000,129137],"class_list":["post-484842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-2020-tokyo-olympic-games","tag-china","tag-jiao-liuyang","tag-liu-zige","tag-sun-yang","tag-tang-muhan","tag-wang-jianjiah","tag-wang-shun","tag-xu-jiayu","tag-yan-zibei","tag-yang-junxuan","tag-ye-shiwen","tag-zhang-yufei","tag-zhang-yufei-li-bingjie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nOlympics: With Relay Medals, China Begins New Era of Swim Prowess<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess China\u2019s swim program is too weighed down with medals to count as emerging\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympics-with-relay-medals-china-announces-new-era-of-swim-prowess\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Olympics: With Relay Medals, China Announces New Era of Swim Prowess China\u2019s swim program is too weighed down with medals to count as emerging\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympics-with-relay-medals-china-announces-new-era-of-swim-prowess\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-06T19:56:08+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xxx-yufei-800-free-relay-scaled-e1627531540988.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"759\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew De George - 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