US coaches puzzled by China's poor showing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-02 06:37

MONTREAL: With the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the horizon, US coaches at the 11th World Swimming Championships said that they were surprised by China's lack of success in the pool.

"We keep waiting for them to break through," said US men's head coach Dave Salo. "We're ready for it. They're on our radar."

China finished the events with one silver and four bronze medals.

Gao Chang set a championship record in the semi-finals of the women's 50m backstroke en route to finishing second, while Yang Yu picked up a bronze in the women's 200m freestyle, Wu Peng was third in the men's 200m butterfly, Zhu Yingwen was third in the women's 50m freestyle, and China's women took bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Salo, however, said he wondered whether China had actually brought their best to Montreal.

"We know they have the athletes, and we see some of these swimmers and we think 'that doesn't belong here,'" he said. "You're not a country that doesn't have assets or resources to be successful. I'm awfully surprised that they don't seem to take this meet as seriously."

"Maybe it's more important to them to do well in their Chinese Games. Some of the times that come out of there are pretty significant," He said.

China's Luo Xuejuan won two breaststroke titles at the last world championships in Barcelona, and China claimed the women's medley relay crown. But Luo's victory in the 100m breaststroke in Athens last year marked the country's first Olympic title in the sport in eight years, however she didn't figure among the medals in Montreal.

"It's hard because we don't really know what their priorities are," US women's coach Jack Bauerle said of the Americans's attempt to assess China's potential. "We just have to be prepared for anything when it comes to the Chinese."

The doping scandals that tainted Chinese swimming in the 1990s, have given rise to suspicions over China's slump in Montreal.

"I think it raises suspicions when they're not part of the world competition and not trying to be the best they can be in the world arena," he said.

Those suspicions will be sure to rise, Salo said, if 2008 brings an unknown crop of Olympic medal contenders.

Seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for the steroid dihydrotestosterone at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, which so decimated the squad that China won only one swimming gold at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

The decline was only temporary and by 1998 China's women were rising back to the top - until four more positive tests and the discovery of Human Growth Hormone in a leading swimmer's luggage before that year's world championships in Perth, Australia.

In April 2002, Shan Ying, a member of China's world record-setting 4x100m freestyle team from 1997 world shortcourse championships, also tested positive for banned substances.

Chinese camp said the National Games, to be held in Nanjing in October, diverted many swimmers' attention away from the world games.

"I think one reason for the recent lack of good results is that some of the swimmers have chosen to focus on the coming National Games," said Zhao Ge, head coach of the Chinese team.

The National Games, a comprehensive sporting meet held every four years with all the nation's elite athletes competing, is seen as the most significant sports task that sometimes equals the Olympic Games.

Consequently many athletes chose not to go to Montreal in order to conserve their energy for National Games, Luo said.

Bob Bowman, coach of US superstar Michael Phelps, said that this situation doesn't surprise him.

"They have their Chinese championships (National Games) coming up," Bowman said. "The funding they get, a lot of it depends on their place in that meet."

China's officials also explained that the team's overall strength was weakened when another group of top swimmers headed by former women's 200m breaststroke world record holder Qi Hui, travelled to Turkey for the World University Games.

(China Daily 08/02/2005 page16)

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