Zhou Yafei Turns from Nobody to Shining Star

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 03, 2002

Zhou Yafei Turns from Nobody to Shining Star

She has never won a gold medal, neither in national nor international competitions. She has always been the nobody among Chinese strong women swimmers.

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She has never won a gold medal, neither in national nor international competitions. She has always been the nobody among Chinese strong women swimmers.

But she claimed victory on Wednesday in the women's 100 meters butterfly in the Asian Games, her first gold medal in a major competition.

Zhou Yafei, runner-up and third-place finisher in any events she competed in national competitions since she entered the stage in 2000, crowned the short distance buttefly in a time of 58.88 seconds, her personal-best.

"I improved my personal best about 0.8 seconds from what I swam in the national meet in April. But it is my minor event while my specialty is in the individual medley, including 200m and 400m," Zhou said.

Zhou, who came to the fourth place at the Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan in August, finished second behind breaststroker Qi Hui in the 200m medley on Tuesday and will compete in the 400m medley and 4x100m medley relay in the six-day swimming competition.

"This a surprise for everyone, but not for me and coach," said the 18-year-old. "I have prepared this for five months."

Zhou, who started swimming at age of 5, was selected in the national training camp this May after her steady performance in last year's National Games and national spring championships.

"I have to say that I am lucky to compete in the 100m butterflyin which Zheng Xi and Xu Yanwei placed ahead of me during the national meets, but Xu's 100m freestyle is clashed with the butterfly in the Asian Games, so I get the chance and take the chance," she smiled.

Xu, who aimed to win five golds at the Asiad, earlier clinched title in the women's freestyle, her second victory after the 4x200m freestyle relay.

With the newly-crowed gold in the Asiad, Zhou looked for a better achievement in the international events.

"I want to become a world champion and Olympic winner," she said.

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