Swimming: Ye Shiwen sets sights on London Olympics
Fourteen-year-old Chinese swimming sensation Ye Shiwen, who gave a spectacular performance in the Asian Games, now plans to set the world on fire by winning the swimming events in the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.
The talented teenager is the youngest competitor representing the host nation, China. She claimed victory in the 400-metres individual medley, in a time that has been determined as the world’s second fastest for this year. Ye overtook the rest of the field on Sunday in Guangzhou in a time of 33.79 seconds.
In a post race interview, the enthusiastic swimmer said, “My goal of course is the London Olympics.”
Ye added, “This is my first time at such a big international event and I was honoured and happy to see the national flag raised because of my performance.”
The young swimmer belongs to China’s eastern city of Hangzhou. She had a passion for the sport since the age of six. Qianjiang Evening News reported on Sunday that she started swimming after her kindergarten teacher noticed Ye had large hands, which is an added advantage in the sport of swimming.
By 2007, she had made it to the Zhejiang’s provincial swimming team and the following year she was in the national team. Ye also won three events at the Swimming World Cup that was held in Beijing last month.
Her former coach in Hangzhou, Wei Wei was reported as saying, “Don’t look at her as the youngest (on China’s team), she could get even better results at the Asian Games.”
He then added, “When I first saw her I knew she was different. Ye Shiwen’s athletic ability was especially strong compared to the other children, her hands and legs were very big, fundamentally this is a big advantage.”
Ye told reporter after the race that it was not easy for her to win this event and it was only possible because of her high level training. “I have to put up with the training, sometimes I can’t bring myself to train, but I’m fighting for a better life for my family so I have to do this.”
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