The coming Beijing Olympics will be a tough test for China's swimming team head coach Zhang Yadong, who denied on Wednesday that his swimmers are falling far behind the world's best.
The head coach of China's swimming team, Zhang Yadong, has refused to concede defeat to the team's international Olympic rivals, insisting his athletes have what it takes to shine in August.
The veteran coach responded on his blog to criticism from media and fans that China is falling behind the rest of the world and has no place among the world powerhouses, whose swimmers have broken several world records over the past three months.
"That is not the case," he wrote on his blog on Wednesday. "People always say what we have been doing is like trying to build a cart without knowing how, and many blame me for not letting my athletes gain experience from overseas competitions.
"But from my point of view, we have improved a lot over the past four years and I always try to send my swimmers to as many international competitions as possible."
China's most recent highlight in the swimming pool came in 2004 when Luo Xuejuan pocketed the 100m breaststroke gold medal at the Athens Olympics. But with the whole nation hoping for gold medals at the Water Cube in August, Zhang, China's head coach for four years, admitted last week, "China doesn't have any specific event that will be able to produce a gold medal at the Beijing Games".
His comments sparked a fierce reaction from the media as some suggested the coach should be held responsible for China's recent slump, a charge Zhang vehemently denied.
"It takes years to generate a champion," Zhang said. "You cannot assume that after Luo retired, there were several new talents coming up ready to win Olympic gold medals. It is illogical.
"Yes, we need to draw experience competing against the US or European countries, but it does not mean we can rely on them. You have to discover a path that is able to benefit your swimmers rather than just copying the training programs of other countries."
Zhang stressed the team's "open attitude in communicating with swimming powerhouses" and pointed out that it has hired an Australian trainer to help speed up China's development.
Chinese swimmers had some decent results at the National Championships early this month, toppling two Asian records and setting six national records. But the gap between China and its international opponents is still wide, as evidenced by the 36 world records broken as of April 13.
Chinese senior sports officials announced that the goal for Zhang's side is to win at least one gold medal at the Olympics given the huge investment put into medal hopefuls Qi Hui, a 200m breaststroke swimmer who won three golds at the 2006 Short Course World Championships, and Wu Peng, who won a silver medal in the 200m butterfly at last year's World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
The duo has a long way to go before it matches China's achievement of the golden days, when it won four golds at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Still, Zhang believes China has made tremendous effort to improve its swimmers, and says the team is on exactly the right path.
"We do have some shortcomings that make us unable to contend with Australia or US, but you should see our improvements," he said. "I am very sure what we've been doing is right because I have seen instant growth from Qi and Wu and other swimmers in the national team.
"I'm confident of Chinese swimming."
(Agencies April 18, 2008)