Liu Zige has revealed that she had not intended to bypass the big international race season and missed the Pan Pacific Championships because her coach, Jin Wei, was refused a US Visa.
Liu told Xinhua reporter Xin Zhou that she will not now race at the Asian Games, in Guangzhou in November but may end 2010 with an appearance at the world short-course championships in Dubai. Missing Guangzhou had been part of the plan - but she missed the Pan Pacs by default. Contrary to reports elsewhere, Liu had not intended to skip the 2010 international race season.
Liu, Olympic champion and world record holder over 200m butterfly, said: "It's not a pity I miss the Asian Games, it's a continental games. But, it's really a pity to miss the Pan Pacific, losing a chance to challenge the best swimmers in the world."
Jin, mentor to Liu since she was 10, was refused a visa, according to Xinhua, after the officer in the US embassy in Beijing said she has never heard about Pan Pacific Championships and asked him to provide working identification card and a business card as a national team coach.
"I had my official passport, a letter from China's Foreign Ministry, invitation letters from Pan Pacific organisers and The American Swimming Coaches Association with me," said Jin. "But the embassy officer asked me for my identification card and business card. None of the national team coaches and athletes have such certification."
"I cannot go to the competition without my coach," Liu said. "I also don't have identification card and business card to prove myself as a national swimmer. There are few international swim events this year, it is a pity I could not swim in the Pan Pacific. Maybe I will compete in the Dubai world short course championships later this year. It depends on my training schedule."
"I want to choose some big events and expect a real challenge with good competitors to improve myself, just like any other top swimmers in the world," Liu said. If she does not race in Dubai, Liu may head to a home world championships in Shanghai next year without having raced her main overseas competitors for more than two years. Liu took silver at the world championships in Rome behind Jessica Schipper (AUS) and then went home to set a 2:01 world mark over 200m butterfly that may last longer than the great Mary T's standard did for 19 years between 1981 and 2000.
Liu's tale offers one more insight into the Chinese system. Many assume that a national sports team would be treated as an entity when it comes to visa applications but evidently that is not the case.
