SWIMMING / THERESA SMITH MUNOZ : Great Leap Forward by Chinese Women

On the heels of surprising world-record setting performances by Chinese women runners, women swimmers from China posted stunning times in the National Games of China. Although no world records were set, the depth of Chinese women’s swimming was astounding.

When the Chinese emerged as an international power with dramatic improvement in the 1990 Asian Games, their prowess was limited to a handful of swimmers, primarily in sprint events. Two years later in Barcelona, four Chinese women won eight of the 39 individual Olympic medals in women’s swimming, including four gold.

Now, there are more than a dozen Chinese swimmers competing on a world-class level.

In the 50-meter freestyle, six Chinese swimmers broke 25.50 seconds. Only two Americans have gone that fast.

In the 100 freestyle, three Chinese broke 55 seconds and three others finished fast enough to be ranked in the top eight in the world.

While the Chinese have been superb in the 50 and 100 for three years, their best finishes in the 200 freestyle in Barcelona were eighth in 2:02.10 and 21st in 2:04.12. At the National Games in Beijing, five Chinese swimmers broke two minutes.

In the 400 freestyle, the Chinese improved by 13 seconds between the Olympics and the National Games.

Except for Li Lin, 1992 Olympic silver medalist in the 200 breaststroke, the Chinese did not excel in the breaststroke until now. Three Chinese swimmers broke 1:10 in the 100 breaststroke, a feat seven Americans accomplished at seven different meets over a six-year period.

In the 200 breaststroke, their second-best swimmer in Barcelona placed 29th in 2:38.63. The second-fastest swimmer at the National Games went 2:28.03.

In the 100 backstroke, eight of their swimmers in the National Games had times faster than their fastest entrant in the ’92 Olympics.

Only eight Americans have broken one minute in the 100 butterfly over a 12-year period; seven Chinese did it on the same day.

Three Chinese women broke 2:10 in the 200 butterfly. Only three Americans, Mary T. Meagher, Summers Sanders and Tracy Caulkins, have gone that fast.

The Chinese also posted the seventh-fastest time in history in the 200 individual medley and the fifth- and 12th-fastest times ever in the 400 individual medley.

Although the Chinese men equaled the Chinese women by setting seven national records, the men’s times were mediocre. For example, the eighth-place man in the 100 freestyle was slower than 28 women.

The absence of improvement among the men adds fuel to speculation that the women’s performances are boosted by artificial means: blood doping, EPO, an artificially produced hormone that stimulates the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, or steroids.

Steroids have more of a performance-enhancing effect on women than men because the male hormone receptor sites in women’s bodies require less male hormone.

In 1990, when the Chinese came out of nowhere to produce three world-best times and three times that ranked them second in the world, Stanford Coach Richard Quick raised the possibility that the times were achieved with artificial aid.

Other coaches, primarily Dave Johnson of Canada, spoke up at the World Championships in Perth in 1991. China’s national team coach, Yunpeng Chen, denied the allegations.

In Barcelona, it was a hot topic again. The Chinese coaches denied it and their swimmers’ drug tests were negative.

Those who believe that the Chinese are cheating are not impressed by negative drug tests. They believe that masking substances are at work. In the case of blood doping and EPO, they are not detected in the drug testing procedure.

Nick Thierry, statistician for FINA, the international governing body of the sport, is outraged.

“We are suspicious as hell,” he said. “I think we can safely accuse them. I think it’s up to them to prove they’re clean. They are showing the same symptoms that the East Germans did. Don’t you wonder why their men are not performing?”

Yunpeng says that the women have the advantage of training with men while the men do not have world-class swimmers to train against. He also contends that Chinese women swimmers are closer in height to the average Olympic swimmer than Chinese men are.

Regardless of how they have improved, the rise of the Chinese swimmers could adversely affect American swimming.

When the East German women dominated the sport, U.S. women’s swimming slumped into a depression. The GDR broke world records by such large margins that many American women lost their motivation.

Coach Paul Bergen’s swimmers rectified the situation in the 1978 World Championships in Berlin. With Caulkins and Joan Pennington leading the way, they brought the United States back into the competitive picture.

Rose Bowl Aquatics Coach Terry Stoddard believes that U.S. women swimmers won’t go into a funk if the Chinese continue to improve.

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “The gauntlet was laid down and Jenny Thompson beat it last year, exemplifying the way American women’s swimming is going to go.”

Thompson, a Stanford junior, broke East German Kristin Otto’s 1986 world record with a 54.48 in the 100 freestyle in 1992. Otto’s record is believed to have been set because of performance-enhancing drugs.

Stoddard believes that American swimmers will rise to the challenge of the Chinese team’s times, regardless of how they were achieved.

“If they have 20 women in China who have risen to world-class times, it is only going to excite the young female swimmers of America,” Stoddard said. “With the 1996 Olympics on American soil, it is not going to matter what the challenges are.”

Swimming Notes

Swimmer of the year Jenny Thompson won five national titles, five NCAA championships and six Pan Pacific titles in 1993. Along with Thompson, who was honored Saturday night at the U.S. Aquatic Sports Awards Banquet at the Los Angeles Biltmore, Eric Namesnik received his award for performance of the year, an American record of 4:14.50 in the 400-meter individual medley.

Former Southern Illinois Coach Doug Ingram was given the U.S. Swimming Award for exceptional contribution to the sport. Ingram, the U.S. Olympic Committee associate director of international games preparation, is a former board member of U.S. Swimming. Chad Hundeby was honored as long-distance swimmer of the year.