Men’s 800 Freestyle – FINALS – 2013 FINA World Championships reported by swimswam / Braden Keith:
This was not the two-man race between Sun Yang and Ryan Cochrane that we expected. In fact, it was a four man race between those two and the two Americans, Michael McBroom and Connor Jaeger.
Ultimately, though, Sun was leading the pack the entire way, and nobody could make a lasting-move on any prolonged basis against Sun’s ultra-efficient stroke.
The only swimmer who at any point got close to passing Sun was McBroom (somewhat surprisingly him and not Jaeger). as he pulled within half-a-second around the 500 meter mark.
McBroom was in trouble early, as he was 8th after 150 meters and was in danger of losing contact. he really climbed back into the race though, and won silver as a part of his first ever International Team. He also broke the American Record of 7:45.63 that Larsen Jensen had held since 2005.
Cochrane outswam Jaeger on the last 50 to get bronze in 7:43.70, and Jaeger wound up 4th in 7:44.26, also under the old American Record. For Cochrane, that was the first Canadian swimming medal of these Championships.
After that tight grouping at the top, the results began to spread out quite a big. Australia’s Jordan Harrison had a much better swim than in the 400 to finish 5th in 7:47.38.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri was 6th in 7:50.29, followed by Pal Joensen of the Faroe Islands (7:52.57), and Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli (7:52.79).
You all assume that Chinese swimmers have any choice or say in where they train, who they train with and when they go there
If Mr. Yang had not shown he was interested in these opportunities, then yes, it could be seen as condescending. Yet you fail to see that Sun has already shown an inclination to take of said advantages, namely by going to Australia to train. If Sun had never left China, his career would almost certainly never have risen to its current hight (It’s hard to deny the tremendous impact of training with the greatest distance coach in the world, arguably of all time). In order to go to Australia and take advantage of this life changing opportunity, Sun at least had to learn to understand the english language. Why not learn to speak it as well, so he could fully… Read more »
oops, didn’t mean to send that twice
That is assuming he actually wants to “open opportunities in western countries that would otherwise not be available” Such a statement could also be seen as condescending in itself couldn’t it?
If Mr. Yang had not shown he was interested in these opportunities, then yes, it could be seen as condescending. Yet you fail to see that Sun has already shown an inclination to take of said advantages, namely by going to Australia to train. If Sun had never left China, his career would almost certainly never have risen to its current hight (It’s hard to deny the tremendous impact of training with the greatest distance coach in the world, arguably of all time). In order to go to Australia and take advantage of this life changing opportunity, Sun at least had to learn to understand the english language. Why not learn to speak it as well, so he could fully… Read more »
Well “EFTW” it is very dangerous to assume anything in this modern world.
I speak English and Mandarin; have coached on 3 continents including Asia, been a member of World or Olympic teams for 3 countries and therefore feel quite qualified to comment on this. I know a number of Chinese swimmers (including Sun Yang) and they already have to learn 2 languages (their own provincial language and Mandarin) before considering English. As was pointed out above, Sun can understand English quite well and can speak basic English to communicate with foreign coaches he has met.
I’m not sure Agnel could conduct word perfect interviews in English either but to assume that all international athletes should speak a… Read more »
While I understand your point, to say that ervin’s assumptions “highlights the ignorance and arrogance of people in the developed world towards other countries, their culture, language and heritage” is far more arrogant and condescending than anything he actually said. All Ervin meant by his statement is that knowing English as a very prominent athlete opens many opportunities in western countries that would otherwise not be available. I’m sure being able to only understand English while Sun was in Australia was very constricting to his life there. He couldn’t fully experience and interact the country. No need for everyone to be so hostile. Jeesh.
Agnel for example wouldn’t need to speak english as well . Meanwhile , speaking that language helped him easely to travel anywhere he wants and train now in the Usa . That was enterly my point . I have no disrespect whatsover towards Yang . U all who have posted an argument probably don’t speak more than one language and probably don’t travel much . No one here got my point . Ourg !!!!!!!
I still don’t get it. So Agnel speaking English lead him to decide to train in the US? Yang trains in Australia, an English speaking country and I’m sure he can speak some English, as you can see he nods as the reporter asks a question in English (Unless it is edited to cut out translation, which may be the case watching it again). Anyway, I still don’t get your point.
How come someone who can read English and follows the rise of Chinese swimming so closely can’t speak Mandarin??????? that is astoundingly weird.
“Around 840 million people worldwide are native Mandarin speakers, while a further 180 million or so speak it as a second language, making it the world’s most widely-spoken tongue.
By comparison, 340 million people are native English speakers” (Telegraph 20 September 2011)
You’d be surprised, in China relatively few locals are well versed in English. Compared to other countries, he would have virtually no experience (and no need!) to speak the language.
How come an athlete of his caliber still doesn’t speak english ??????????????? that is astoundingly weird .
Not sure if your trolling but I don’t see what your athletic ability has to do with speaking another language. You could say an athlete of his caliber training in australia should speak some english but its obvious he can understand it well but may just not be comfortable speaking publically in a second language.
Why these english-speaking interviewers don’t bother to learn anything else than just one language? Sun Yang is a world champion so let’s show some respect to him and I’m sure FINA could find someone to ask questions in Mandarin if that is the language Yang prefers most. The press makes itself to look uncivilized, not Yang.
Can you speak Mandarin? I can’t. Foreign languages are not easy to learn and to speak a foreign language well, it takes at least two years completely submerged in it.
I lived in a Latin American country for a year and at that time I was getting better (and trying very hard to learn as much as possible) but I needed another full year to get good at it.
Try it sometime……