Born with deformed legs, Xie Yanhong cannot get about very fast on land. But in the sea, there are few who can match him. Right now the 35-year-old champion is preparing his attempt to swim the English Channel.

Recalling his decade-long swimming experience, Xie believes it is his strong will and persistence that differentiates him from others.

"I cannot walk or run as fast as others, but I would not be left behind when I swim," said Xie, from Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, still needing a wooden stick to help him stand despite several operations.

After graduating from middle school, he landed a job selling drinks on the beach near his home. Before long he found himself more and more drawn to the sea.

Whenever possible, he would ask his brother and sister to help him into the water. "I can stay in the sea for hours. I feel like a fish," he joked.

For the last decade he has swum year-round. One day, Xie caught the attention of several swimming coaches from a Dalian-based naval academy. They often met Xie on the beach and they began helping him improve his swimming skills. To compensate for the weakness of his legs they suggested he focus on swimming freestyle.

In 2000, Ge Jie, one of the navy coaches, volunteered to be his tutor. He drew up a detailed training plan for Xie and before long Xie had begun to participate in competitions.

In a 10-kilometer swimming competition held in Dalian, Xie competed against able-bodied swimmers and ranked 16th. Later he won the 500-meter and 1,000-meter freestyle competitions in a national event for the disabled.

On June 4, 2002, he swam across the Qiongzhou Straits, which divides Hainan Island from the mainland in South China, in 10 hours and 26 minutes.

That was quite an experience for Xie, who had to swim at least 33 kilometers per hour.

Two hours after he and other swimmers set off, they swam into a swarm of jellyfish. Many of them, including Xie, were stung. Some could not bear the pain and quit, but Xie stuck it out. When he eventually emerged from the water, he was found to have nine wounds on his body.

It was not only the jellyfish he had to contend with, but high waves. A number of those on the escort ship were seasick as their vessel was tossed in the heavy seas. In the water, Xie found he needed more than just his arms to keep him afloat.

Two hours before reaching dry land, the swimmers found themselves caught in the middle of heavy rain showers. To an exhausted Xie, it seemed as if the shore was becoming more and more blurred and further and further away from him.

"Hold on," he told himself, the words his mother often said to him. His thoughts flashed back to those times when she had carried him on her back, sometimes running home through knee-deep water after a storm. "We can never give up, son," he remembered his mother's soft but firm words: "We are closer to home."

The final push to reach the shore took him another three hours. After the competition was over, those overseeing the event told him that he had in fact swum about 63 kilometers, almost twice the distance as the crow flies across the straits, because of the harsh sea and weather conditions.

Xie and his coach reasoned that it was his persistent long-time training over the past decade that had helped him acquire such stamina and adapt to the sea.

His training regime is tough. Each morning he gets up at 5:30 am then swims for 10,000 meters in a pool before doing physical exercise on the land. In the afternoon, he swims another 5,000 meters. This has been Xie's daily routine for years.

Not only is he undaunted, but full of confidence when talking about his forthcoming attempt to swim the English Channel. If everything goes well, the 23-kilometer swim from the famous White Cliffs of Dover to Calais in France, will involve another marathon training session, said coach Ge Jie.

Xie's application has been approved by the England-based Channel Swimming Association (CSA). The information from the CSA shows that the weather and maritime conditions in August are the best for those attempting to cross one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Preparations are well under way for Xie's attempt and he has received strong support from his local community. His friend, Mayor Xia Deren, has personally helped him raise 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) for the trip.

According to his schedule, Xie will soon do a 30,000-meter test swim in the pool, followed by a long-distance training session in the sea.

Of all the preparations needed, said Xia's coach, strong will and persistent high spirits are the most important.

"It has been the key to overcoming all of his difficulties," Ge said. "And it is certainly not learned overnight."

(China Daily July 7, 2003)