The Chinese timed a new championship record of 3 minutes 59.89 seconds to spoil the United States' dream of a hat-trick of relay titles in Barcelona, Spain, with defending champions Australia having to settle for bronze.

Zhou Yafei said the joy of her first world gold sparked her dramatic poolside collapse after she helped her team to the women's 4x100m medley relay title at the world swimming championships here.

The emotion of a first title, just over an hour after she suffered the bitter disappointment of finishing fourth in the 50m butterfly final, was too much for 19-year-old from Shandong who is competing in her first worlds.

"It's the first medal for all of us and it means a lot," said Zhou, who took bronze in the 200m individual medley, but was only fifth in the 100m butterfly, a race in which she is the Asian champion.

"For me to compete in the world championships and take part in so many races with the butterfly, the medley and the relay, I feel exhausted. But I'm also very happy that I performed to my best," she added.

The Chinese team included Zhan Shu, Luo Xuejuan and Yang Yu.

Luo put the team ahead in the second leg and then Zhou held in her butterfly leg. Yang sealed victory and said that she was driven by the desire for victory after her bronze in the 200m freestyle.

"I was so disappointed but that doesn't matter any more," said Yang, adding that they wanted to build a team to challenge for gold when the Olympics are held in Beijing in five years time.

"The Australian and American girls have a good standard but we still have a lot to learn."

(China Daily July 27, 2003)