The Chinese quartet withstood a severe final challenge from
German world record holder Britta Steffen to bag home the gold of
the women's 4x100 meters medley relay at China Open here on
Monday.
"We performed quite well, especially Zhu Qianwei who stood the
pressure in the last lap," said Chinese breaststroke Sun Ye after
the team edged Germany in four minutes 7.61 seconds.
The Chinese team led in big margin in the first three laps but
was chased tightly in the final lap as Steffen, the 100 meters
freestyle world record holder, surged fiercely in her
specialty.
Zhu was totally out of match in the last 100 meters, while
Steffen chased back 2.14 seconds for the German squad. However, Zhu
managed to touch the wall 0.18 second ahead of the speedy Steffen,
who had grabbed the titles of the 50 meters and 100 meters
freestyle in the past two days.
South Korea got the bronze in 4:17.35.
"We are pleased with the result," said Birte Steven representing
the German team. "Britta swam really fast, but we hope for better
performance at the Olympic Games."
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)