On the evening of September 25th, in the mixed interview area of the swimming pool at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, such shouts echoed one after another. This is the local media greeting two Chinese girls, Yu Yiting and Ye Shiwen, who won the women’s 200m individual medley championship and runner up.
Photographed by Yu Yiting (left) and Ye Shiwen and Liu Ping
I didn’t expect to catch up in the end. I am still very satisfied with this result, “said Ye Shiwen.
In the women’s 200m individual medley final that night, Yu Yiting led the way and ultimately won her first Asian Games gold medal with a record breaking performance. Ye Shiwen completed a comeback against a South Korean athlete in the final sprint, realizing her dream of competing at the Asian Games in her hometown and reaching the podium.
I think it’s still about passion and love for swimming, “said Ye Shiwen, who had just celebrated his 27th birthday in March this year, explaining his second comeback. At that time, Ye Shiwen, who was struggling to enter the competition and faced graduation from undergraduate studies, only spent a month preparing. When she entered the competition with the idea of “listening to the gun” and “trying the water”, she didn’t expect the final result to be bad, and became even more determined in her heart to strive to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
At that time, Yu Yiting had already surpassed Ye Shiwen in her grades, but her name was still unfamiliar to most people. In fact, like Ye Shiwen, she also comes from Zhejiang and has achieved great success at a young age: at the 2019 Guangzhou Swimming World Championships, Yu Yiting, who was less than 14 years old at the time, had already reached the semi-finals of the women’s 200 meter individual medley. Two years later, she registered for three events at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fifth in the women’s 200 meter individual medley, finishing fourth in the women’s 4 × In the 100 meter medley relay race, I finished fourth with my teammates.
Tonight I went for the Asian record, breaking the competition record is also very good. “Yu Yiting mentioned the Asian record, which was set by Ye Shiwen at the London Olympics.” Her Asian record is just on the screen, which is a great motivation for me
Ye Shiwen is now very calm about this. I am actually very happy. I think this is a healthy competition that can better promote the medley in our country, “she said
Before the women’s 200m individual medley final of the Asian Games, Ye Shiwen and Yu Yiting cheered each other at the athletes’ call center and agreed to strive to win the championship and runner up. Although they are competitors, they are like sisters. We have been playing together for many times now, and she accompanies me like family, going through every game, “said Yu Yiting, It is the love of swimming that supports her, but I still lack a little of this love. This is what I can learn from her. “Ye Shiwen also said,” We are now participating in all domestic and international competitions together, and there will be no situation where I face it alone. Thank you for giving me so much companionship
For the future, Yu Yiting said, “I hope to be able to step by step and strengthen myself in the future.Go up solidly and improve your grades And Ye Shiwen said, “I have set my next goal. After a winter training with aerobic reserves, I should have a more solid foundation. I hope to compete for the Olympics next year.” It is in this inheritance and mutual promotion that the pace of Chinese swimming can continue to move forward and maintain hope forever.