China

Swimming star Zhang keeps low profile on Asian Games

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-08 11:25

GUANGZHOU - As an Olympic runner-up and world champion, rising star swimmer Zhang Lin is shouldering China's expectation of winning gold at the Asian Games in Guangzhou.

However, the 23-year-old kept a low profile, saying on Monday that "my goal is to win the men's 4X200 meters freestyle relay at the Asian Games, which we lost to Japan four years ago in Doha."

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"Now both my teammate Sun Yang and I improved a lot, so I hope we can grab the relay gold this time," said Zhang, runner-up of the men's 400m freestyle at the Beijing Olympic Games, which is China's first ever Olympic medal in men's swimming.

Four years ago at the Doha Asian Games, China was beaten by Japan in the men's 4X200m freestyle relay although Zhang performed his best and was totally exhausted after the race.

"Asian Games is very important to me. This year I didn't take part in many competitions, so the Asian Games will be a good experience."

The media darling didn't talk much about his individual events by only saying "I hope my 400m freestyle result can be within 3:43.00."

Having captured the Olympic silver behind South Korean Park Tae Hwan in the men's 400m freestyle in Beijing 2008, Zhang trained hard and improved himself quickly that he broke the world record to win the 800m freestyle at the World Championships last year in Rome.

The gold was considered a milestone for both China and the Asia. He has become the first male Chinese swimmer to break a world record in freestyle in 49 years, and also the first male Asian swimmer to seize gold in a long-distance freestyle event at either the Olympic Games or the world championships in 73 years.

"I didn't think much about the past," said Zhang modestly. "I always think about the future."

Zhang will again meet his archrival Park at the Asian Games. In Doha four years ago, Park was ahead of Zhang in the men's 1,500m freestyle by more than eight seconds. At the Beijing Olympic Games two years later, Park again pipped him to the post by 0.58 seconds to claim the gold for the 400m event.

In Guangzhou, the two top Asian swimmers will meet in the 200m, 400m, 1,500m freestyle events and the 4x200m freestyle relay.

"Park is a strong rival," said Zhang. "But my biggest opponent is myself. I don't want to think about others too much. What I hope to do is to improve my results."