by Xinhua writers Wei Hua, Liu Jin

HONG KONG, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Maybe it is hard to recognize Chen Jianhong when he walks on the street in Hong Kong, but his dark skin, tall stature and slender limbs suggest his glorious past.

In over 20 years of his Hong Kong time, Chen has witnessed the vigorous development of local sports since Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997. The former men's 100m breaststroke Asian record holder now is the general coach of China's Hong Kong swimming team -- Chen, 54, has made a stunning turn of life in Hong Kong while continuing his beloved cause, which started in east China's Anhui province, his birthplace.

Anhui is not prolific in swimming talents, despite the fact that the Yangtze River passes through the whole province. Chen, however, is no doubt an exception.

Born into a sports family, Chen showed his gift in swimming when he was a child as he worked hard and learned under the wings of his father, a coach of the provincial swimming team.

"At that time, the only indoor swimming pool in the whole province was just tens of meters away from my home, so my career started relatively smoothly," Chen told Xinhua.

Chen entered the provincial team at the age of 14, five years before the call-up from the national side.

At the international level, Chen exploded onto the scene as the breaststroker won two gold medals at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games and broke the Asian record, which earned him the nickname "king of breaststroke."

With his prestige, it was fairly easy for Chen to land a job in the national or provincial team after his retirement, but instead, he opted for a new challenge.

After a two-year coaching spell in Shanghai, Chen decided to receive an invitation from Hong Kong in 2000, which was a turning point in his life.

"I was a newcomer when I first arrived in Hong Kong and had to start from scratch. At that time, Cantonese was a must for new Hong Kongers, and I learned to master it in three months," Chen grinned.

Despite his splendid performance at the Asian Games, Chen failed to impress at two consecutive Olympic Games, leaving him with deep regrets.

"I was inexperienced when I participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, but the second time, I was exhausted because of overtraining, which made me truly understand what 'more haste, less speed' means."

"Maybe it is my biggest regret so after ending the career without an Olympic medal," said Chen.

"Taking the coaching job, I hoped to bring out an Olympic medalist."

Over the years, every exploration, trial and adjustment that Chen made has brought his team step and step closer to the Olympic podium.

Chen realized his dream in 2021 when Siobhan Haughey made the breakthrough as she won silver in the 200m freestyle and 100m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics.

Today, a giant poster of Haughey is hung on the wall beside the training pool of the swimming team to motivate other athletes.

"Siobhan is highly talented, and she is the most self-disciplined athlete I have ever seen. Her achievements have a lot to do with her self-discipline. What we should do is to support her and let her enjoy this sport," Chen noted.

Sitting by the side of a broad swimming pool at Hong Kong Sports Institute, Chen recalled the scenes when he arrived here at the turn of the century.

"The training conditions were very poor. There was just a short course divided into 10 lanes, hot in summer and cold in winter. The team was practically made up of amateurs, but their hard-working spirit impressed me a lot."

Some two decades later, the original training base has turned into an international venue while the "amateur team" has earned respect from all over the world.

"The training base is advanced even at the international level, and I want to express my gratitude for the support from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the citizens here," he said.

Chen is also glad to see that Li Bingjie, Zhang Yufei, and Wang Shun, as well as other mainland swimming stars, also trained here from time to time.

"It not only allows us to observe the training methods of world-class athletes but also tightens the emotional connection between Hong Kong and the mainland," Chen said.

Chen noted that Hong Kong also has its own advantages in the sport of swimming.

"Most of my athletes graduated from world-class universities or well-known universities in Hong Kong which cultivated their independent thinking ability, allowing them to discuss training plans with their coaches, which is a good interaction," he said.

With less than 400 days to go before the 2024 Olympic Games, Chen has set his sights on Paris.

"The Olympic Games will see the top athletes from all over the world compete together. Even a tiny mistake could be costly. It will surely be a delightful thing if we can clinch a medal of 'better color,'" Chen said. Enditem

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