SHANGHAI (AP) — China head swimming coach Yao Zhengjie has downplayed his team’s chances of winning multiple golds for the home crowd at the world championships, saying his team is concentrating on the London Olympics next year.
Chinese swimmers didn’t win any golds at the 2005 or 2007 world championships, and only one gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, at the 2009 worlds in Rome, the team started to show signs of a resurgence, winning 10 medals overall, including four golds.
Yao says his swimmers are improving but they are still “quite far behind” the United States and Australia.
China’s top hope in Shanghai is 19-year-old Sun Yang, who nearly broke the 1,500-meter freestyle world record last November at the Asian Games in Guangzhou.
