His
success is the results of great sacrifices made by his rich parents, mentorship
from his two committed swimming coaches (Eddie Reese and Sergio Lopez) and his
tremendous hard works. There is a Chinese saying: 台上一分钟，台下十年工。Translated it means: to be able to perform one minute on stage, you need
to practise for 10 years behind the stage. His 50.39secs butterfly feat in Rio
was achieved with only 7 years of hard work. Come to think of it, he’s very
productive and extraordinary.
As a badminton fan, I had wished he could win an Olympic gold
medal in probably his last attempt at Olympic glory. After all, he is Asian,
has the same family name as me and he lives in a neighboring country. On the
other hand, I had also wished he would not win. Otherwise, his country’s
ranking in medal tally and performance would have had surpassed our country’s
medal ranking. It’s a dilemma with mixed feeling. This example well illustrates
the concept: Conflict of interest. Either way, I’m happy.
