Chinese "polar bears" enjoy races at winter swimming national
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-03-21 14:05

China's 9th national winter swimming championships had already established several records even before the official opening in this ancient Chinese city in central Henan Province on Saturday.

This year's championships had attracted more than 2,300 swimmers of 109 teams from across the country, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the largest turnout for the annual event since its inauguration in 1995. There was no national competition in 1998.

Sanctioned by the China Swimming Association (CSA), the event is organized by the Luoyang Copper (Group) Co., Ltd, the first time to be organized by an enterprise in the history of the championships.

And the organizers joined hands with a Chinese travel agency for providing lodging and transportation services, which is also a"first" in the event's history.

Soon after the competitions started in the Luoyang company's open-air swimming pool Saturday, former national swimming head coach Mu Xiangxiong, 69, displayed his physics in a demonstration swim. The 50 meters race by the former star swimmer, who broke themen's 100m breaststroke world record three times in the 1950s, came out a real hit for the spectators. There was loud cheers and applause around the pool.

The temperature of less than five degrees centigrade and 13 degrees centigrade of pool water were cool enough for anyone on the stands, but it could not even "satisfy" these Chinese "polar bears", who usually enjoy an even cooler temperature and freezing water.

Duan Gongwu, who retired from a military plant in Xiangfan of Hubei Province 24 years ago, is one of two 84-year-old participants here. Overweight and sick in stomach, Duan began winter swimming in 1984. After 20 years, he has lost more than 10kilograms in weight, his stomach problem is gone and he has not got a cold for the last two decades.

And the youngest swimmer this year is six-year-old Wang Dongze from Jiangxi Province in southeastern China. A weak boy often suffering from cold, Wang began swimming last July. Three months later he could swim up to 800 meters and seemed much more fit. Hisfather then encouraged him to swim in a nearby river last October and it soon became part of his daily life. As he no longer needs medicines for cold, he now enjoys the full support from his family.

Listed on the competition program for the two-day national championships are such events as men's and women's individual events for disciplines of freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly, divided into junior, senior and masters age groups.

Swimming distances range from 50 up to 100 meters.

Also listed are three relay events 8x50m freestyle and breaststroke relays and 4x100m medley relay. Each relay team for the freestyle and breaststroke events should have at least two female swimmers and each medley relay squad should include at least one female swimmer.

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