China’s Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yufei set an “ultimate goal” of successful the 100m butterfly gold on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) — China’s a number of Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Zhang Yufei has her eye on the 100m butterfly gold on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“The 100m butterfly [gold] is what I expect the most. I hope to bring it back home,” stated Zhang, who received the ladies’s 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay gold medals on the Tokyo Olympics.
Zhang, who additionally completed runner-up within the 100m butterfly and combined 4x100m medley relay in Tokyo, expressed her confidence in China’s energy in relay occasions.
“Looking back to what we did at the Tokyo Olympics, we can still improve on that in Paris,” she defined.
“I need to help younger teammates mentally and improve their training level in these two years so that we can realize our dreams together.”
Zhang added that she has excessive expectations for the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July and the Hangzhou Asian Games, two main competitions in 2023.
For her, successful the 200m butterfly on the worlds is the final piece of the puzzle in her try to comb main honors in her profession.
“Hopefully I can make it this time,” she famous.
As for the Asian Games, Zhang stated she not solely expects to listen to the cheer from the house crowd but in addition goals to win the event’s Most Valuable Player award and break the 100m butterfly world document.
After turning into an Olympic champion, Zhang stated she will be able to vividly really feel a change in her mentality over the previous two years.
“For a period of time after the Tokyo Olympics, I was afraid of defeat, which brought a huge burden for me. I could not accept that I settled for silver,” she admitted.
“But after the short-course world championships at the end of last year, I felt that my winning mentality was always there but I was no longer afraid of defeat.
“I’ve set a aim for each event. As lengthy as I attain that aim and acquire expertise from the event, I can accept no matter end result I get. After all, the Olympic Games is my final aim,” she added.
Zhang, a deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), is currently attending the annual “two classes” in Beijing.
The 24-year-old elite swimmer says she hopes younger teammates can step up and shoulder their responsibilities for China, and that more youths enjoy and engage in sports.
“Hopefully they are often extra taken with sports activities and extra keen to observe it in order that they profit from it bodily,” she stated.