Drowning Zhang Lin

Zhang Lin was once at the top of his game.

That was four years ago, when the then 21-year-old swimming prodigy won silver in the men's 400m freestyle at the Beijing Olympics. One year later, he broke the men's 800m freestyle world record at the star-studded world championships in Rome and became another household sports figure in China.

But now, he is on the brink of missing the London Olympics after losing the men's 400m freestyle at the national championship, or Olympics qualifier on Tuesday night.

A younger and more vigorous Sun Yang, China's new world champion, built a commanding lead and clocked 3:42.31 to win the event. Hao Yun from Hebei and Li Yunqi took the silver and bronze with 3:46.01 and 3:49.12 respectively.

Zhang, obviously out of shape, finished fourth with 3:49.14 at the event where he rose to stardom. Since the result did not meet the Olympic A standard of 3:48.92, he could almost call it a day. And if he doesn't rally at the men's 200m freestyle on Friday night and men's 4x200m freestyle relay, he may as well hang up his goggles and cap.

Even Zhang himself and his coach were astonished at the result.

"I've been adjusting my condition since the Guangdong Asian Games.," he said after game. "you can not say it is a failure or a success. Because they (the winning and losing) are common in sports. As a pro, I've prepared for this day. It's just sooner or later."

Chen Yinghong, Zhang's coach, revealed that Zhang's subpar performance was probably due to an asthma attack. But she was still disappointed.

"I was struck by the result. It is even worse than the outcome at the Guangzhou Asian Games. I was sure enough that he could finish within 3:45," she said. "Zhang told me that he felt bad after the first 300m and out of strength. So I think the asthma he showed before the game was the only explanation."

 

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