Pan praises scientific approach to Paris gold | Partners | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news | BELTA
BEIJING, 1 August (BelTA — China Daily) — China’s freestyle swimmer Pan
Zhanle has thanked a scientific training program for his world
record-breaking feat at the Paris Olympics as the country celebrates its
first men’s Olympic swimming gold medal in a sprint event.
Entering
Wednesday’s final session under huge pressure to end China’s gold medal
drought in the Paris pool, the 19-year-old sent the capacity crowd at
the La Defense Arena into a frenzy by clocking 46.40 seconds in the 100m
freestyle final, to deliver the team a long-anticipated gold and take
an incredible 0.4 seconds off his own previous world record time.
It
was the first world record broken in any swimming competition at the
Paris Games, and has significantly lifted the Chinese team’s spirit
following a series of near-misses of the podium top spot in earlier
events.
Pan’s record-breaking performance on Wednesday came after
having completed a rigorous doping test program, prior to and during
the Paris Games, with zero positive results, which has sent out a strong
statement on the improvement and integrity of Chinese swimmers.
«I
just swam the race perfectly today and made a strong impression for
Chinese swimming. I hope this gold could boost the morale of the whole
team,» Pan said at the post-final news conference.
«For myself, I
haven’t come to terms with it yet,» Pan said of the gold medal’s
significance for his career. «My life goes on, for sure, and I will
continue training and swimming.
«But for Chinese swimming and for
my country, I think it’s huge to prove that Chinese athletes could also
prevail in another event (other than traditional strong disciplines) in
swimming.»
A young talent specifically strong in his final split
push, Pan made his presence felt at February’s world championships in
Doha by setting his previous world record of 46.80 seconds in his
stunning leadoff leg in China’s gold-winning men’s 4x100m relay.
Australia’s
Kyle Chalmers finished 1.08 seconds behind Pan in Paris to win silver,
while former world record holder David Popovici of Romania finished a
further 0.01 seconds back and had to settle for a bronze medal.
Asked
how he managed to achieve such a consistent improvement, Pan said it is
all about hard working honestly under the right guidance.
«I
took 21 doping tests from May to July prior to the Games and had no
positive results at all. It was no big deal as long as the testing was
conducted fairly and according to rules. I cooperated with all the
testing and stay confident that I am competing fair and clean,» Pan
said.
«As far as my daily training routine, I didn’t focus too
much on speed training on my program. I did a lot of aerobics and
endurance training to strengthen my push and kick in the final split.
«We
have also been adopting a scientific underwater monitoring and
analyzing system to review our techniques and strokes, so that we could
train better and more effectively,» he said.
