China will count on two 19-year-olds, both with only a year's experience, to carry the nation's Olympic hopes in marathon swimming, an event that makes its Olympic premier in Beijing.
"The world champions are not that much stronger than me," said Fang Yanqiao, who finished 11th at the 2007 Swimming World Championships and 12th at the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships in the women's 10km.
China has not won a medal in a distance-swimming event at any prior Games and the head coach of the national team said Team China does not expect to win any of the 34 long-distance gold medals available.
It is unlikely China will snatch any medals this time, but that won't stop Zu Lijun and Fang, who will swim the men's and women's 10km marathon, respectively, from making the best of the opportunity they have been given.
Just like many other distance swimmers competing in the Games, the two young athletes previously focused their training on the 1,500m freestyle, but have switched to open-water training in the past few months.
Though not eligible to take part in last weekend's Olympic qualifiers at the Olympic course in suburban Beijing, they did work out at the course in a special training session on Saturday with Australian and Venezuelan swimmers who have already qualified for the Olympics. The session, sanctioned by FINA, was held 15 minutes after the 20 swimmers who fought for Olympic berths began their race.
"I started well but was a little hasty in the following laps," Fang told Chinese reporters after catching her breath following the two-hour-plus training session. "That's why I was left behind (by the Australian and Venezuelan swimmers)."
"Yes, I understand being physically strong is important. You don't have your own lane, instead you fight to keep on course," said Fang. "It's like a battle in the water."
"The real battle is in August," she said. "I think I still have room for improvement."
(China Daily June 4, 2008)