On August 21, Chinese athlete Liu Xiang celebrated after the match. Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiang
CAMCE, Jakarta, August 21 (special correspondent Yuan Hao) Tonight, seven gold medals were awarded in the swimming event, and Liu Xiang was the most notable. In the women's 50 meter backstroke competition, Liu Xiang broke the world record for nearly 10 years with a time of 26.98 seconds and won the championship. This is also the first world record of the Asian Games. Fu Yuanhui, another Chinese player, won the runner up.
In the preliminary stage, Liu Xiang's time was 27.83 seconds, ranking first. In the final tonight, Liu Xiang was in lane 4 and Fu Yuanhui was in lane 5. At the beginning of the game, the Chinese twins went hand in hand, but Liu Xiang's departure time was 0.09 seconds less than Fu Yuanhui's. Liu Xiang began to accelerate and sprint with all his strength. In 26.98 seconds, Liu Xiang broke the world record, Asian record and competition record of women's 50 meter backstroke.
Previously, the record of this event (27:06) was set by Chinese athlete Zhao Jing at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Liu Xiang was also excited to win the championship by breaking the world record. "It's unbelievable. I didn't expect to break the world record. I'm dreaming now. I didn't expect to be in such good condition before the game. I didn't have any premonition."
It's no accident that she broke the world record. Liu Xiang admitted that her previous training in the United States has improved her a lot. "My 200 meter level has improved, so my 50 meter level has also improved. The leg movement has also been significantly strengthened in training abroad. The preliminary match in the morning was no better, and the final match in the afternoon paid special attention to the leg kick."
In other competitions that night, Yu Hexin won the men's 50 meter freestyle championship, Qin Haiyang won the third place in the men's 200 meter breaststroke, Zhang Yufei won the second place in the women's 100 meter butterfly, Sun Yang won the men's 400 meter freestyle championship, and the Chinese team won the women's 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay championship.
