Sun voted top male swimmer in Barcelona
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, August 6, 2013
China's Sun Yang won the official title as the meet's top male swimmer. When asked if this meant he was the "King of Freestyle," Sun said he isn't keen to take on that moniker.
"This night is an amazing night for me in my swimming life," Sun said. "During the competition tonight I felt very tired. It's very hard to get these performances. (But) I have never had the feeling of being the King of Freestyle.
"My training has not been so systematic, so it was a pretty tough race," Sun said.
"I really appreciated my opponent pushed me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make it. After all my races, I felt a bit fatigued. But I just tried to convince myself to stay with him because I knew that in the last 100 I had the advantage."
It was the fourth time Canada's Ryan Cochrane had to settle for silver in the 800 and 1,500 at the worlds and Olympics.
The 21-year-old Sun won the 800 and 1,500 at the 2011 worlds in Shanghai, while claiming silver in the 400. He took gold in the 400 and 1,500 at the 2012 London Olympics, which doesn't include the 800 as an event.
American pair Connor Jaeger described Sun as a "super friendly guy" and applauded his ability to save that extra energy for the end of the most grueling pool race.
"That's what he's great at," Jaeger said. "He can go hard and he can still sprint at the end, and that's what you need in long races like this. It has paid off for him, and that's what Katie (Ledecky) does. So maybe it's something we need to learn."
Michael McBroom, who captured silver behind Sun in the 800 on Wednesday, also applauded the Chinese's character.
"He doesn't speak a lot of English but he's real friendly, real nice, and always wishes us good luck and says, ‘Good job.' He's a great guy, a great racer and a great competitor," he said.
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