|
By Sportswriter Ma Xiangfei
ATHENS, Aug. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Breaststrokers, both men and women,will attract
much of the attention to the swimming pool Sunday at the Athens Olympic Games.
Chinese triple world champion Luo Xuejuan will be in a multi-way tussle for
the women's 100m breaststroke championship against Australian world record
holder Leisel Jones, American sprint queenAmanda Beard as well as fellow Chinese
Qi Hui.
Luo, eighth-place finisher at the Sydney Olympic Games, has sether eyes on
the title.
"My goal is to win the gold and I have been preparing for it", said the
20-year-old.
"Luo's goal is to win the 100m breaststroke and it will be most satisfying
if she win with a world-record time," said Luo's coach Zhang Yadong.
Luo defended her 100m breaststroke glory at the Barcelona World
Championships last July in her personal best time of one minute 06.80
seconds before she retained the 50m title and grabbed the 4x100m medley relay
victory for China.
Jones is also a big favorite after the 19-year-old clocked 2:22.96 in the
200m breaststroke event, bettering the previous world record at the Telstra
Grand Prix on July 10 by 0.03 seconds. However, former record-holder Beard
reclaimed the world mark in 2:22.44 at the U.S. Olympic Trials a week later.
The men's 100m breaststroke will be as same thrilling as the women's when
current world record holder Brendan Hansen of the United States and Japanese
"pocket rocket" Kosuke Kitajima slug itout in the evening session.
Hansen established himself as the red-hot favorite to sweep breaststroke
golds at the Athens Olympics after he captured both the 100m and 200m breast
events at the US Olympic Trials in world-record times.
Hansen settled for 100m silver and 200m bronze behind Kitajima at the World
Championships, where the Japanese clocked then world records in the two events.
But Kitajima seemed all confident despite the strong challenge he will be
met with.
"Finally I came here in the Olympic Games and I am confident," said
Kitajima, 22.
Triple Sydney Olympic champion Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands is to
start her defending campaign for the 100m butterfly which she holds the world
record while German world champion Hannah Stockbauer will try to extend her
dominance in the400m freestyle. Enditem | 
