Para-swimming couple enjoy "nice atmosphere" in Water Cube pool
5/9/2008 17:54
Pulling her right hand, Mateusz Michalski helped his girlfriend Paulina
Wozniak out of the pool in the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed "Water Cube",
patted her shoulder and whispered to her ear.
When finding a photographer was
taking pictures, the two Polish Para-swimmers stood side by side and smiled to
the camera in Beijing today, one day before the official opening of the
Paralympic Games.
"It (the Water Cube) has very nice atmosphere," Michalski
said.
It's Wozniak's first Paralympics. The 16-year-old girl, who got three
gold medals and one silver in the 2007 world championships, said it doesn't
matter whether she can win a medal in Beijing.
"I just come here to show
myself," she said.
Wozniak, who will take part in the 100m breaststroke, 200m
individual medley, 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly, said she enjoyed the time
training together with her boyfriend.
"He's nice, friendly, and lovely," she
said with her blue eyes glittering, adding they only met four months ago and
Michalski helped her a lot with the training.
Michalski, 19, is more
experienced as he has been to the Athens Paralympics and won two bronzes in the
100m backstroke and 4กม100m medley. This time, he will take part in three events
and is also expected to get a medal for Poland.
Disabled by polio, Michalski
started to train for swim when he was eight years old.
"Swimming is my life,"
he said.
Wozniak, who is still a high school student, also said she will
continue swimming in the future as the sport gives her self-confidence. However,
she also has another plan.
"I want to be an art teacher," said the girl, who
learns drawing in school.
Xinhua
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