China kicks off Para Swimming Country Week

Every week World Para Swimming will be looking at the countries who finished at the top 10 at Rio 2016 on our website and social media 07 Oct 2020
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A man with a grey cap swimming in a pool
Lichao Wang leading China to victory in the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay 20pts at the World Championships in London
ⒸAlex Pantling/Getty Images
By World Para Swimming

The country that topped the Para swimming medals table at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games kicks off the Country Week, a new series on World Para Swimming website and social media that will take a closer look at the top 10 teams at the last Paralympics.

Check who are the swimmers to watch at Tokyo 2020 and the numbers behind China's great results in the pool.

The medals

China left Rio de Janeiro with 92 medals in Para swimming events. 37 golds, 30 silvers and 25 bronze, finishing in first place ahead of Ukraine.

Chinese swimmers also dominated the pool in the first World Championships in the new Paralympic cycle at Mexico City 2017.

The country topped the medal standings with 30 gold medals, 16 silvers and 10 bronze (56 in total).

Two years later, China ended in sixth place at the London 2019 World Para Swimming Allianz Championships. This time with 13 golds, 11 silvers and 17 bronze medals.

In the all-time Paralympic Games swimming table, China is currently ranked seventh, but another performance like at Rio 2016 could see them jump to the all-time top 5.

The names

Lichao Wang was the most successful Chinese swimmer at last year’s World Championships in London.

The 26-year-old won the men’s 50m butterfly S5 and the men’s 50m backstroke S5 setting new world records in both races. 

He also helped his country to victories in the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay 20pts and the mixed 4x50m medley relay 20pts (also with a new world mark).

Also, watch out for Yuyan Jiang. At only 14, she medalled in all five events she competed in at London 2019.

The class S6 swimmer won gold in the women’s 100m freestyle, the women’s 400m freestyle and the women’s 50m butterfly – breaking the world record in the last two.

She also finished with bronze in the 50m freestyle and the 100m backstroke. 

 

The numbers

9.

The number of world record established by Chinese swimmers at the World Championships in London last year.

11.

S11 is the class for vision impaired swimmers with very low visual acuity and/ or no light perception. China won two gold medals in this class with newcomers at the last World Championships.

1:22.36. 

The world record set by Jia Ma who took the gold medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11.

1:16.40.

It was Xinyi Wang’s mark who gave her the victory in the women’s 100m backstroke S11 – also a world record. 

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You can find more about the Chinese swimmers on the athletes’ biographies section on World Para Swimming website