------Program code: DO-080505-02034 (what's this?)

Source: CCTV.com

05-05-2008 09:49

The film “Two Generations of Swimmers” was produced in 1959. The character of the hero, Huang Xiaolong, was based on the first Chinese swimmer to break a world record.

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It would be another 30 years, in 1992, before Chinese swimmers would again distinguish themselves on the world stage. Then five women swimmers, known as the “Five Golden Flowers”, would between them win four gold medals, five silver medals and one bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics. However, some cynics claimed that the Chinese swimmers could only have achieved such success by taking drugs. This seriously tarnished the remarkable achievements of the Chinese swimming team.

The 28th Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, on August the 14th, 2004. The Chinese swimming team, having not won a single Olympic gold medal for eight years, was virtually forgotten. Hardly anyone in the team was viewed as a potential champion. The only genuine Chinese contender for a gold medal was Luo Xuejuan, breaststroke title-holder from the world championships. She would be coming face to face with her old rival Leisel Jones, from Australia.

Leisel Jones’ emergence had coincided with the time when the Chinese swimming team was at an all-time low. For years she had been the world record holder in the women’s 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke events. At the Athens Olympics, she broke the Olympic record in the preliminaries of the women’s 100-metre breaststroke. The media confidently predicted that Leisel Jones would win the gold medal.

At 1am on August the 17th, Beijing time, the women’s 100-metre breaststroke final was due to begin. Having performed poorly in the semi-final, Luo Xuejuan was in lane one, the outside lane where the swimmer is slowed by the wave drag produced by the other swimmers. Leisel Jones, by contrast, as the fastest qualifier from the semi-final, took the fourth lane, or champion’s lane. In swimming, height can be an advantage, and Leisel Jones was 10 centimetres taller than Luo Xuejuan. So not only was Luo Xuejuan in poor form; she also faced a number of physical disadvantages.

Against the odds, Luo Xuejuan found herself ahead of all the other swimmers, while Leisel Jones was back in third place. After the turn at 50 metres, Luo Xuejuan quickened her pace. Even so, Leisel Jones managed to narrow the gap between them, but at 75 metres she was still trailing. Luo Xuejuan eventually won the title in a time of one minute, 6.64 seconds, breaking the Olympic record that had just been set by Leisel Jones.

Luo Xuejuan became the first Chinese Olympic swimming champion for eight years. After the race she took a routine drug test, and passed. But in a media interview, she said something that caused considerable surprise.

Luo Xuejuan’s remarks caused considerable consternation. People wondered who the person she had described as hating her, might be. Still, after her Olympic win, she was named one of the most beautiful women in Chinese sport. She was also ranked second on the Forbes list of China’s wealthiest female sports stars, with her annual income of 4 million yuan, second only to diving queen Guo Jingjing. However, she continued to excite controversy, with some of the comments she made in public. In fact, three years earlier, she had already been accused of having a loose tongue.