China's Chen Zuo and Xu Yanwei both won their second consecutive Asian Games 100m freestyle titles, with Chen stunning his rivals in the men's 100m as he swam an Asian record 49.06 and kept Korea's Park Tae Hwan almost a full second behind.
Chen was delighted with his performance after the race and said: "We lost yesterday's 4x100m relay. That was very pitiful so I wanted to prove myself today. The Japanese team has made great progress, but I think my biggest rival is myself. I have to break my boundaries."Â
The women's 100m freestyle final resulted in a battle between China's Xu Yanwei and Pang Jiaying. Xu had a superb start and claimed gold despite Pang's very strong finish, and both have now won four gold medals at the Games.
Xu has now claimed back-to-back gold medals in the 100m freestyle, and also the 50m freestyle. She is the first swimmer to reach this sprint double milestone at the Asian Games and claimed: "The team was frustrated. The coach told us all that has happened is in the past. Try your best and get all the gold."Â
In the 200m breaststroke final Qi Hui won China's third gold medal of the day. After three sizzling laps Qi seemed on her way to breaking the Asian record she set in April 2000, but she lacked speed in the final 50 metres. With two gold medals in the bag, Qi can make it a hat trick in the 200m individual medley on the final day of competition.
Japan's Hidemasa Sano swam a strong first half of the race as he went on to win a gold medal in the men's 200m individual medley. In a Japanese-dominated final, Sano beat Asian record holder Ken Takakuwa, adding an extra gold medal to the 400m individual medley he won on Sunday 3 December.
Speaking after his victory, Sano said: "I am very happy as I came here to win. This time is not my best time, but I am satisfied. I know that [Ken] Takakuwa was passing me, but in the last 50 metres I made it. From the beginning I could swim my race, and at the last turn I became to believe I could win."Â
Wednesday evening's last two finals were also won by Japanese swimmers. In the women's 100m backstroke an excellent turn was the key to Reiko Nakamura's gold medal as she added the title to her 200m backstroke title. China's Xu Tianlongzi and Zhao Jing had to settle for the other medals.
"Even for this time of the season my result was OK,"Â Nakamura said. "My goal was getting a gold medal, but my time is a bit unsatisfying. In the lead up to these games I trained for speed, but not only speed, probably more for endurance. Because of my experience from the Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships, from the beginning I pushed myself to go fast."Â
In the 800m freestyle Yurie Yano ended Japan's drought in the women's freestyle events at Doha 2006. Yano powered away after 100m and no one was able to keep up with her pace, including China's Yang Jieqiao, who was unable to add another gold to her win in the 400m freestyle.
Yano was delighted with her winning time and looked ahead to the Olympics in 2008. "I'm happy to break the 8:30 mark. This is a very old Japanese high school record, so I'm happy. I think the Chinese swimmers are very strong. I expected that Yang would come back, but she didn't.
"I also swim the 200m butterfly, but I am more confident in the 800m freestyle. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics I want to swim the 200m butterfly, but after that I'd like to change to longer distances."Â
After five days of swimming competition China lead the medal tally with 15 gold medals, 18 silver and six bronze. Japan are second with 13 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze. Both countries have 39 medals each.
Thursday is the final day of the swimming competition with six more finals. The race for most swimming medals will be decided, while Korea's Park Hae Twan will try to become the most successful male swimmer at Doha 2006 as he starts as favourite in the 1500m freestyle.
By 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006
Posted December 6th, 2006 by harminka
