Twin sisters Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen brought the Chinese
synchronized swimming into a new level with their fourth place in
the duet technical routine in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen came to Melbourne with their
newly collected title from the Doha Asian Games last December.
In their first duet show at the World Championships, the
20-year-old twin finished fourth with 96.333 points in the
preliminary on Saturday and kept the same spot in the final on
Tuesday with 96.000 points.
"We have pulled out all the stops," said Jiang Wenwen, "we even
skipped the lunch for training today."
It was the best result that the Chinese synchronized swimming
team achieved at World Championships and Olympic Games.
In the two major competitions, China had never been ranked
higher than sixth either in the duet or in the team event.
But the sisters still had some regrets for the final. "We
performed not bad," said Jiang Wenwen, "But we played better in the
preliminary.
"While doing a compulsory movement in the final, my leg shook a
little."
The Chinese team's head coach Masayo Imura also felt regretful
for her swimmers. "They should have performed better. I didn't set
any goal for them before the competition. I just hope that they
could show themselves well."
Being famed as the "godmother" of the Japanese synchronized
swimming, Imura signed a contract with the Chinese team after the
Doha Asian Games where China unheraldedly dethroned long-time Asian
No. 1 Japan in both team and duet events.
"Their personalities and bodyshapes are as excellent as those
world-class synchronized swimmers," Imura talked about the twin.
"But they lack of strength. Meanwhile, they need to improve their
skills."
Imura admitted that the duo still need to make progresses so as
to catch up swimmers from the traditional powerhouses Russia, Japan
and Spain. But Jiang Wenwen is confident that one day they will
among the best.
"Our aim is to get closer to the Russian swimmers," said Jiang
Wenwen, "We will try our best for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game and
I believe that we have the potentials to be among the best."
(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2007)