BEIJING // A string of world-class times from a band of talented teenagers at the national championships over the last week could be the first signs of a new wave of top Chinese swimmers emerging for the London Olympics. China's first generation of world class swimmers burst on to the scene at the 1994 world championships in Rome, where Chinese women won 12 of the 16 gold medals up for grabs and went on to set a number of world records, before being discredited by the doping scandals that followed.
Despite the setback, some Australian and American coaches predicted a battalion of Chinese swimmers would emerge from secret training camps in time for the 2008 Olympics but that never materialised. China won six swimming medals at the Beijing Games but just one gold contributed to their table-topping haul of 51 medals, that won by Liu Zige in the women's 200 metre butterfly. Although Liu, 21, missed the five-day national championships in Shaoxing, which finished on Monday, there was no shortage of women's talent on display in the small city in Zhejiang Province.
Li Xuanxu, 16, set the best time of the year in women's 400m individual medley as well as world-class times in the 400m and 800m freestyle despite complaining of illness before the meeting. Jiao Liuyang, the 19-year-old who finished runner up behind Liu in Beijing, grabbed the year's best times in the women's 100m and 200m butterfly, while 14-year-old Ye Shiwen won the 200m individual medley with the second-fastest time of the year. Yao Zhengjie, the national team head coach was as happy as Chinese coaches ever admit to being, especially since the times were achieved without wearing the controversial polyurethane suits which were banned in January.
"The results of the swimmers were not surprising. I am happy that they did better than last year's national games," he told Beijing Youth Daily. "Firstly, in this transition year the swimmers are not at their top form. Second, without the polyurethane swimsuits the swimmers felt themselves heavier in the water." Zhang Lin, the world champion in the 800m freestyle, was the best man on show, winning three titles with a world's best time of the year in the men's 400m freestyle.
The 23-year-old declared himself "90 per cent" happy with his performance and said he had benefited from the training he recently underwent in the United States. "The overseas training was visibly effective; he has made obvious improvement in the combination of speed and endurance," Chen Yinghong, his coach, told China Sports Daily. Far from locking up their elite swimmers in secret training camps, China is now planning to send more athletes abroad to benefit from different coaching methods.
"It will be a precious opportunity for them to train abroad," said Zhang. "The improvement of a teammate will push everybody. It indicates that Chinese men's swimming is gradually rising." * Reuters
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
