Swimming: teenage girls dominating the Asian Games
The group of teenage girls are setting the world on fire by giving spectacular performances at the Asian Games in Guangzhou and thus are emerging as strong contenders for the London Olympics.
Up till now, female swimmers on the Chinese team have bagged gold medals in all the swimming events, meanwhile they have also clinched quite a few silver and bronze medals.
The 200 metre freestyle event was won by Jiao Liuyang, age 19, while the 200 metre butterfly meet and the 4 into 100 metre relay race was won by a group of veteran swimmers.
On Monday, the young athlete on the host nation’s team, Shao Yiwen won the 400 metre freestyle event with a personal best time of 4 minutes and 05.58 seconds, holding off her closest competitor by more than three seconds.
The overwhelmed teenager was so excited the she could not even answer the questions put forward by the correspondents at the post event press conference. She said, “This event, is the first time I have represented China at such a big event. I am happy to
be here. To win the gold medal...”
The confused 15 year old champion then went on to say, “This is the first press conference with so many people interviewing me, so I am a bit nervous.”
On the other hand, the 17 year old Tang Yi won the gold medal in the 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay and the 4 into 100 metre medley relay event and then bagged a silver medal in the 200 metre freestyle meet of the Asian Games.
In the post race interview, Tang told the correspondents, “I am very happy after winning the silver.” She added, “First I want to thank my coaches and all those who helped me.”
Yet again, the 14 year old Ye Shiwen won the 400 metre individual medley on Sunday, after which she is being considered as a potential threat to the swimming dominance of the established swimmer Stephanie Rice in the upcoming London Olympics. She is the
youngest athlete on China’s team to be participating in the Asian Games.
Other teenage swimmers who are in the limelight for their splendid contribution to the 2010 Asian Games include the 16 year old Li Xuanxu, who was the second place finisher in the 400 metre individual medley event and has already participated in the Olympics
Games. She managed to finish eighth in aforementioned swimming event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was the fifth place finisher in the 800 metre freestyle meet.
Tags: