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World Champion Chen Yan in Doubt for Sydney Olympic Games
World record holder and world champion Chen Yan faltered in her specialty with a distant fifth place finishing at the Chinese Olympic selection trails, and she is now in doubt whether she can be selected in the Chinese Olympic team.
Chen clocked four minutes and 51.53 seconds in the 400 meters individual medley, far away from the pace setter Liu Yin in 4:43. 17 and Zhou Yafei at 4:46.85.
Chen set the world record of 4 minutes 34.79 seconds at the Chinese National Games in 1997.
"We hope she can find her form in Sydney, but I am not sure," her coach Han Bingyan said. "We will wait for the outcome of the selection, and then decide what to do next."
Chen, 19, has been plagued by stomach problems for years since 1998 after she crowned twice in both the 400m medley and 400m freestyle at the World Swimming Championships in Perth, Australia. Chen competed in Asian Championships last month and won the 400m medley title in 4:46.09.
Though her result is 5 seconds slower than that in Asian championships, Chen said: "According to my training, the result is all right to me."
Han echoed:" The most important thing for her is to get recovered."
When asked whether Chen held back her real power for the Olympic Games, both Chen and her coach denied: "No!"
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