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Two Swimmers Share Victory and World Record in 50m Breaststroke
Dec 4, 2001 - Camillo Cametti - FINA Press Commission Chairman
Shanghai, CHN - Unbelievable! In the third of the 17 events on the Day 2 programme two Chinese swimmers, Xue Juan Luo (17 year old) and Wei Li (22) tied for the first place and shared victory with a new world record. Their winning time of 30.56 shaves 0.04 sec. to the previous world record, that belonged to retired South African swimmer Penelope Heyns.
Even the most experienced coaches on the pool deck, Don Talbot and Bill Sweetenham, could not remember having witenessed a similar situation before.It should be the first time ever that a win is shared in a world record time.
It was a nervous race, fought furiously. If everybody was expecting a great performance by Luo, and some even predicted she would set a world record, no one could ever imagine she would find a strong contender in her elder compatriot Wei Li. "It's a very close race", shouted coach Talbot in the late stage of the competition. However he could not predict what the scoreboard would sanction after a few seconds.
The two swimmers, and everybody around them, were visibly elated: for their gold medal, for the world record and for the prize money associated with both the the first place and the world record.
Wei Li, who was born in Shanghai on March 9, 1979, started swimming when she was 6-year old and competing at 13. She belongs to the Shanghai team. To those who insinuated she had come from nowhere she answered: "Already at the FINA World Cup meet in 1999, here in Shanghai, I made a time of 31.45." In spite of today's feat she is unlikely to travel to Moscow next April for the FINA World Championships.
Luo's and Li's time is worth 1010 points. This score places Luo, who took part in a couple of meets in Zone 1, in second place in the provisional World cup standings, behind USA swimmer Natalie Coughlin.
Both swimmers were elated, and so was everyone around them: the numerous journalists, photographers and television commentators as well as their team mates, the Chinese officials and the crowd.
Other major highlights were the two World Cup records set by Russian Roman Sloudnov in the 100 m breaststroke, with 58.57 (27.70), and Chinese Hua Chen in the women's 400 m freestyle, with the time of 4:02.80 (59.59, 2:01.02, 3:02.41).
Sloudnov, who has a p.b. of 58.51, improved by 0.19 sec. his previous World Cup record, from Rio ( last November). His score of 1005 points consolidates his second place in the provisional World Cup standings. This was his third win in Shanghai, and his second victory over Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor , who clocked 1:00.40.
Chen Hua improved her personal best of 4:04.50 by 1.70 sec. to 4:02.80 (100 pts). In the morning she had told us she would aim at the world record but, in spite of delivering a valiant performance, she had to content herself with the 6th position in the all-time rankings.
The women's 400 m freestyle was an all Chinese podium. In fact, behind Chen, 15-year old Jing Zhen, with 4:06.51, and 16-year old Yan Zhang, with 4:07.01, came respectively in second and third place ahead of Rachel Komisarz (USA), 4:07.69, and Claudia Poll (CRC), 4:07.71.
Among the other feats, reamarkable were those of Martina Moravcova, who conquered two gold medals in the 100 m freestyle, with 53.93 (977 pts) and the 100 m IM, in 1:00.97 (981 pts.). Chinese Hui Chi was also a double winner among women: she took the 400 I.M., with 4:39.97 (960 pts.), and the 200 m breaststroke in 2:23.96 (977)
Other winners were ( in order of event):
In the second day China's domination was even greater than the first day. The Chinese swimmers won a daily total of 34 medals, of which 13 golds, 8 silvers and 13 bronzes.
