Parents pray swimmer daughter makes big splash

Mom and dad hope Jiao has a good run at the London Games

They didn't see their daughter on TV but were still excited enough to stay up all night to watch Friday's opening ceremony of the 2012 Games.

Harbin, Helongjiang province, natives 47-year-old Jiao Chunsong and 46-year-old Liu Shuhua can't wait to see their daughter, nationally celebrated swimmer Jiao Liuyang, compete in the London Olympics.

Jiao Chunsong (left) and Liu Shuhua are at home. Wang Kaihao / China Daily

"It begins again," Liu said.

"The Games are just around the corner."

Their 21-year-old daughter took silver in the women's 200m butterfly four years ago at the Beijing Olympics. She and her teammate Liu Zige broke the world record together, but Liu took the gold because she touched the wall first.

The father said he feels slight regret his daughter didn't get the gold, but it doesn't really bother him.

"I didn't have to be modest," he said.

"I believed my daughter would take first place before that match. She had the ability. At least the gold belongs to China."

Jiao Liuyang is now a better athlete with a world title in the women's 200m butterfly she won last year in Shanghai.

She is a title favorite in the event in London and has an outside medal hope in the 100m butterfly.

She didn't attend the opening ceremony on Friday night so she could focus on the competition.

On Saturday, she joined teammate Lu Ying to qualify for the semifinals. The final is on Sunday (early Monday morning, Beijing time).

Media used to call Jiao Liuyang Qiannian Lao'er, which means "Second Place for a Thousand Years", because she had so many runner-up finishes at major competitions.

She took her first individual world title at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships.

"It just like saving money for years," Jiao Chunsong said.

"And it will be natural to withdraw the benefits. I am confident my daughter can win after viewing her years of hard training."

He recalls she didn't like swimming and often ran away from her swimming lessons at age 4.

Her mother said it took about three years for the girl to fall in love with it.

Liu, a local kindergarten teacher, enrolled her girl in dancing classes for about half a year before swapping these for swimming.

"When she was dancing, it was the only period when she wore pigtails," Liu said, with a laugh.

"We raised her like a little boy because she was rough around the edges."

Her parents, both of whom are relatively tall, believed she had the potential to become a good athlete, so they believed her time was better spent in the pool.

"And swimmers aren't easily injured like athletes in other sports," Jiao Chunsong said.

Liu said her daughter was among the top students in her class and only trained part time until age 10, when the People's Liberation Army enrolled their daughter in its sports team. The girl left for Guangzhou, Guangdong province, for training.

"It was Oct 15, 2001, when she left Harbin," Liu recalled.

"I was sullen for months after deciding to send her far from home to accept professional training."

Jiao Chunsong recalled: "I drank all night with my friends the day she left. But I didn't get drunk because I was shedding tears. I wasn't sure if she would be exceptional at swimming, and I knew only one in 1,000 athletes make it. I feel lucky our choice turned out to be right."

The girl's busy training schedule doesn't allow her much time to visit her parents. But the couple grabs every chance they get to be with her.

Before the Games, Liu traveled with her daughter to Australia, where she spent 40 days, while Jiao Liuyang completed pre-Games training with China's other top athletes.

"I always worry if she can eat good food and get time to wash her clothes," the mother said.

The couple did not travel to London but contacts their daughter every day.

"It's pity we couldn't go to London this time," the father said.

"But we don't want to miss any of her competition, and I'm staying glued to the TV."

He expected to host a full house on Sunday, while watching his daughter compete.

"I guess the journalists will gather in my home," he said.

"The gold isn't that important. What matters is that she shows her real abilities like she did four years ago."

wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn