China: World 800m champion and shiny suit record holder Zhang Lin plans to train in the United States next year, according to Xinhua. The 22-year-old sent out an appeal to any "world-class coach" in the States who will take him. Zhang became the first Chinese male swimmer ever to win a world title at Rome 2009. That followed his success at a home Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, when finished second in the 400m freestyle. Zhang, about to race 200m freestyle at the Asian Championships this week, told the agency that he had benefited from training in Australia under Grant Hackett's mentor, coach Dennis Cotterell. "I've learned a lot from Dennis and improved a lot in recent years. The most important thing is that I've become more confident after training together with foreign swimmers," said Zhang, of Beijing. "I wish to change a training base next year, moving somewhere in the US, because I think it can bring me more enthusiasm. I expect to engage with the swimming world as US swimming is No. 1 in the world." Zhang saw difficulty ahead with his plan: :As far as we know, most of the best American coaches work in the universities while it's impossible for me to apply for university studies in a short time. I wish to find a famous coach who works in the local club which can accept foreign swimmers to train with them."
USA: The $100,000 world cup win of Jessica Hardy was like a "dream come true after the hell I went through in 2008", the swimmers tells a paper in California - but the money will go to the lawyers who have been representing her in her fight to clear her name. The American was dropped form her Olympic team after tests showed that she had tested positive for a banned substance contained in a food supplement. That product, Hardy argued, had more in it than it declared on the tin or in the paperwork. You can read more from that California paper here.
Australia: Leisel Jones sees no barrier to her becoming the first Aussie swimmer to race at four Olympic Games. The Olympic 100m breaststroke champion, who took silver over 200m as a 15-year-old back at a home Games in Sydney, 2000, told AAP: "No one on the Australian team has ever done four Olympics - it would be a pretty big thing if I chose to continue and physically there is no reason why I can't go on. Physically I am in very good shape and I am actually enjoying the training, I like that side of things... There is no reason why I couldn't as I will only be 27 (in 2012) in London and that isn't very old." Just ask Dara.
France: Olympic 100m free champion Alain Bernard and Olympic breaststroke medallist Hugues Duboscq, who both work in voluntary policing and the military, were honoured today at a ceremony in Fontainebleau. Bernard was decorated as "chevalier de la Légion d'honneur", while Duboscq received the "médaille de chevalier dans l'ordre du mérite du Conseil international du sport militaire".
