Wu Peng, one of China's best swimmers, said in Beijing on Wednesday evening that he was expecting the race with American phenom Michael Phelps two days prior to the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games.
"We haven't raced in the Water Cube, and who knows?" Wu said after his first training session in China's National Aquatics Center, popularly known as the Water Cube.
Wu said his form is good and moral is high.
The 21-year-old has become the flag-bearer of the Chinese swimming squad and is one of the team's best hopes to take home an Olympic medal at the Beijing Games.
"I hope I would be among the ones who stand on the podium and I believe that my dream will come true soon." Wu said in a previous interview with Xinhua.
The youthful butterflyer has the reason to be self-confident.
As a 14-year-old lad, Wu grabbed two golds at the ninth Chinese National Games in 2001. One year later, the teenager defeated more heralded Japanese to bag home three golds from the 200-meter butterfly, the 400-meter individual medley and the 200-meter backstroke at the Asian Games.
Regarded as the most promising male swimmer in China though, Wu came in a disappointing sixth in the 2004 Olympics instead of a predicted medal finish.
In last year's Melbourne World Championships, Wu was second only to Phelps, who keeps the event's world record at 1:52.09.
He also created his personal best of 1:54.82 at a national Olympic trials competition in March. The clocking could have placed him fifth in the event's world rankings this year.
Wu will meet Phelps in the 200-meter men's butterfly race staring from Aug. 11 evening.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)