Personal best, no regrets, Chinese butterflyer eyes comeback four years later
13/8/2008 18:19
Chinese butterflyer Wu Peng shattered his hope to a podium finish at men's
200m butterfly of the Beijing Olympics in Beijing this morning, but with no
regrets since he had swum his personal best to share the fourth position with
New Zealand's Moss Burmester in the final.
"I will come back at the next
Olympics, and I will continue my quest for an Olympic medal four years later,"
Wu said after the race.
The 21-year-old, popularly regarded as China's best
Olympic swimming hope, swam at 1:54.35, shaving off his personal best by 0.47
seconds, but still 2.32 seconds slower than the world record set up by American
Michael Phelps during the race side by side with him.
Wu told Xinhua that he
hoped to swim into 1:54, however, even if he had done so, the score still could
not guarantee him among the medalists.
"I have tried my best. I'm fast but
they are much faster", Wu said.
As a 14-year-old lad, Wu grabbed two golds at
the ninth Chinese National Games in 2001. One year later, the teenager defeated
more heralded Japanese to bag home three golds from the 200m butterfly, the 400m
individual medley and the 200m backstroke at the Asian Games.
In last year's
Melbourne World Championships, Wu was second only to Phelps. His perform raised
his fans' hope to see their hero could stand on the podium back home in
Olympics.
Failing the expectation to earn China a medal at the race, Wu said
he was not disappointed or had any regrets, on the contrary, he was quite
satisfied with his performance, especially the final powerful charge that pushed
him from the last to the fourth.
"Obviously there is still like a big gulf
between me and the medal winners, but that's alright, I will do my best to
bridge the gap. Let's see what will happen in London (2012 Olympics)," Wu said
in confidence.
Xinhua
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