Yesterday, we left Wuxi city in Jiangsu Province and traveled about 2 hours south to the city of Hangzhou in the Zhejiang Provence. In China, provinces are similar to states in the US. Currently Zhejiang Provence is a hotbed of swimming in China with several World Champions being produced there in the last year or so.
After the 2 hour drive or so, we met a student of Coach Xu, and we were able to tour around for a little bit. Hangzhou is a beautiful city and the portion we stayed in was situated on a very pretty lake (West Lake) provided a few fine picture taking opportunities. We then ate a traditional Chinese lunch at another great restaurant.
Party boat on West Lake.
Some Famous hunter that died in this spot.
After touring around for what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at one of the best training facilities in all of Hangzhou, and one that recently produced a 2011 FINA World Champion in Shiwen Ye (who was the youngest world champions at age 15). After getting the standard royal treatment tour from the director of the facility Jerry Jiang, I was able to meet with Coach Wei Wei, who is Shiwen's coach. Anytime you get to met the coach of a world champion athlete, it is a big deal, but coach Wei Wei was very humble and we developed a fast friendship.
Myself and Coach Wei Wei (to my right side).
That friendship developed an even stronger bond over dinner (which is very typical in China), and I hope to have Coach Wei Wei and Director Chiang over to the United States at some point in the near future. As if having dinner with one world Champion Coach wasn't enough, as fate would have it (or though a little bit of chinese special connections), we dined next to World renowned coach Zhuzhi Gen, who is the coach of Chinese Phenom Sun Yang, who recently broke the world record in the 1500 M freestyle. He happened to be dining with Yang Yu, who is an Olympic Gold Medalist from 2002. After formal introductions and greetings, we were able to take for a bit and take some more pictures.
Myself, Yang Yu and Coach Zhuzhi (both to my right).
Two world champion coaches and one former world champion swimmers. All in all, not a bad night for myself. I am extremely grateful to Coach Xu for setting this all up. I was able to speak at length with Coach Wei Wei at dinner and was able to learn quite a bit of information.
Tomorrow, it's off to Shanghai and one last day of fun and adventure here in China.
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