No secret training program behind Chinese swimming gold: coaches
18/8/2008 18:13
Chinese coaches said in Beijing today that there were no secret deals with
an Australian coach behind the swimming gold medal.
Liu Zige, a 19-year-old
Chinese swimmer, upset world record holder Jessicah Schipper to win the women's
200m butterfly with a world record of two minutes 4.18 seconds at the Beijing
Games. Reports said her gold was achieved because an Australian coach Ken Wood
sold a top secret training program to her.
"The so called top-secret program
was just hype and nonsense," said Chinese head coach Zhang Yadong, "she trained
in Australia before, but a lot of other swimmers did too. It was her ability
that made her successful."
Another swimmer Zhang Lin, silver medallist in
men's 400m freestyle, also spent some time in Australia, mentored by Denis
Cotterell, former coach of long distance king Grant Hackett.
Liu's winning
came as a bit of a surprise as she came out to defeat the world record holder
Schipper, also coached by Wood.
Liu's coach Jin Wei said she was able to swim
faster than others because she was really hard on herself, and she only began to
gain strength last year as her body developed fairly late.
Not surprised by
the training partner's success, Schipper said it was only natural for swimmers
to improve. "In 2005, I took three seconds off my personal best," she
said.
Australian swimming head coach Alan Thompson said a bigger deal has
been made out of this than it should be. "A lot of coaches help people overseas,
and they sell their talents all over the world," he said.
"Wood did a job to
assist the Chinese swimming and got paid for the job. He didn't secretly sell
things," he added.
Xinhua
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