Yufei Zhang poses during the medal ceremony for the Women's 200m Butterfly at the 16th FINA World Championships at the Kazan Arena on Aug. 6, 2015, in Kazan, Russia. (Photo : Getty Images)
With the 2016 Rio Olympics on the horizon, Chinese swimming fans are all eyes on 17-year-old Zhang Yufei, who is poised to win Olympic gold for China in the butterfly events.
But Zhang, who gained bronze in the 200m butterfly at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, in August, is more concerned about her height.
"I am over 1.75 meters now, and I don't want to be any tall," Zhang said on Wednesday at the World Youth Games in Fuzhou City.
China has held an advantage in the butterfly events since Liu Zige bagged the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Jiao Liuyang also won an Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games. At the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, when Jiao was not in form, Liu came out to win the title.
Jiao has since been sidelined from the pool due to illness since 2015, while Liu was struggling for form and failed to qualify at Kazan.
With China's two diving queens, all hopes are pinned on Zhang.
Zhang's trainer, former swimmer and Jiao's coach Liu Haitao, said that Zhang has made big improvements recently.
"It is less than a year since Zhang trained with me," he said. "She is in good age and has space to improve more."
Coach Liu said that he had started to take notice of Zhang almost four years ago.
"When I first saw her, she was with team Jiangsu, and I thought she was good. But due to some communication problems, she came to my group till last year," he added.
When asked whether Zhang would be the next "butterfly queen," the coach said that Zhang still has a long way to go in order to reach the same league as Jiao or Liu.
"She needs to better her technique, especially in the fly [category]," Liu said. "The girl showed some potential in dealing with pressure at the Kazan Worlds, and I think she has the basic qualities of an excellent athlete."
According to Zhang, she started swimming at the age of three. "My parents had been professional swimmers. When they had training, they just let me play in the pool," she said.
The Xuzhou native also expressed her enjoyment at the Youth Games.
"I am quite relaxed," she said. "My aim here is to keep form. I didn't train well since the Kazan Worlds."
The Chinese Youth Games runs from Oct. 18-27.
