Chinese swimmers seek mental reset as Zhang Yufei adds bronze
Butterfly queen wins bronze despite exhausting drug tests
China's swimmer Zhang Yufei added to her Olympic medal haul with a 100m butterfly bronze and Qin Haiyang finished 7th in the men's 100m breaststroke on Sunday. Both athletes admitted the importance of shaking off the mental burden and competing with a more relaxed mindset.
When waving and interacting with the audience after the award ceremony, she shed tears of regret and the topic "Don't cry, Yufei" quickly became trending on Chinese social media.
"We are proud of you. You have done a great job of winning two medals for China. Don't cry," said one netizen on China's X-like platform Sina Weibo.
Gao Min, Olympic champion diver in the Barcelona 1992 Games, said via her Weibo account on Monday that there's no doubt that something went wrong with the athlete's pre-competition training. "Personally, I think that taking seven doping tests a day disrupted our Chinese swimming team's performance," said Gao.
Zhang, who won bronze in the women's 4×100m freestyle relay on Saturday, told the Xinhua News Agency that in the two months leading up to the Paris Olympics, every athlete of the Chinese swimming team was tested around 20 to 30 times, averaging three to four tests per person per week.
Chinese swimmers have faced significantly more testing compared to their American counterparts.
According to data from the Aquatics Integrity Unit, leading Chinese swimmers such as Zhang and Qin have undergone 19 and 22 anti-doping tests in 2024. Chinese swimmers at the Olympics have faced an average of 21 doping tests this year, compared to an average of six for the American team and four for the Australian team.
Chinese swimmers are the most tested Olympians ahead of the Paris Games, according to the statistics released by World Aquatics on July 23.
Zhang, who claimed silver in the same event at the Tokyo Games, admitted that she has always longed for a world record of her own and the title of 100m butterfly champion.
She confessed that she has been obsessed with this goal in her whole career and has struggled to let it go and find peace.
"Winning a gold medal at the Olympics requires the right timing, favorable conditions, and harmonious teamwork. It's not just about hard work. Everyone works hard, but there is only one gold medal," she said after the final.
"This is my third Olympic experience, and I hope to approach the competition with a mindset of enjoyment, rather than carrying immense pressure each time. I've even imagined participating in the next Los Angeles Olympics," said Zhang.
In the men's 100m breaststroke final, Qin led the first 50 meters but fell behind in the second half of the race. He felt that he managed to maintain his rhythm in the first 50 meters, but the last 50 meters were chaotic.
"Before the race, I thought there would be no problem, but it felt different once I was actually swimming. I really wanted to win, but maybe my mindset wasn't well-adjusted enough," Qin said after the final.
Qin, who is the world record holder in the 200m breaststroke, noted that he would clear his mind and focus on winning the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke, while also preparing for the mixed relay.
While waving and interacting with the audience after the medal ceremony, Zhang Yufei sheds tears in Paris, France, on July 28, 2024. Photo: Li Hao/GT
The 26-year-old Zhang clocked a time of 56.21 seconds finishing third behind two American swimmers.When waving and interacting with the audience after the award ceremony, she shed tears of regret and the topic "Don't cry, Yufei" quickly became trending on Chinese social media.
"We are proud of you. You have done a great job of winning two medals for China. Don't cry," said one netizen on China's X-like platform Sina Weibo.
Gao Min, Olympic champion diver in the Barcelona 1992 Games, said via her Weibo account on Monday that there's no doubt that something went wrong with the athlete's pre-competition training. "Personally, I think that taking seven doping tests a day disrupted our Chinese swimming team's performance," said Gao.
Zhang, who won bronze in the women's 4×100m freestyle relay on Saturday, told the Xinhua News Agency that in the two months leading up to the Paris Olympics, every athlete of the Chinese swimming team was tested around 20 to 30 times, averaging three to four tests per person per week.
Chinese swimmers have faced significantly more testing compared to their American counterparts.
According to data from the Aquatics Integrity Unit, leading Chinese swimmers such as Zhang and Qin have undergone 19 and 22 anti-doping tests in 2024. Chinese swimmers at the Olympics have faced an average of 21 doping tests this year, compared to an average of six for the American team and four for the Australian team.
Chinese swimmers are the most tested Olympians ahead of the Paris Games, according to the statistics released by World Aquatics on July 23.
Zhang, who claimed silver in the same event at the Tokyo Games, admitted that she has always longed for a world record of her own and the title of 100m butterfly champion.
She confessed that she has been obsessed with this goal in her whole career and has struggled to let it go and find peace.
"Winning a gold medal at the Olympics requires the right timing, favorable conditions, and harmonious teamwork. It's not just about hard work. Everyone works hard, but there is only one gold medal," she said after the final.
"This is my third Olympic experience, and I hope to approach the competition with a mindset of enjoyment, rather than carrying immense pressure each time. I've even imagined participating in the next Los Angeles Olympics," said Zhang.
In the men's 100m breaststroke final, Qin led the first 50 meters but fell behind in the second half of the race. He felt that he managed to maintain his rhythm in the first 50 meters, but the last 50 meters were chaotic.
"Before the race, I thought there would be no problem, but it felt different once I was actually swimming. I really wanted to win, but maybe my mindset wasn't well-adjusted enough," Qin said after the final.
Qin, who is the world record holder in the 200m breaststroke, noted that he would clear his mind and focus on winning the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke, while also preparing for the mixed relay.
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