One of the national synchronised swimmers in this Championships is called Fan Jiayi, an athlete born in Chenzhou, and her success has made the Chenzhou people feel even more excited.

 

“I am quite excited to make history for my country.” She said in an interview on June 26. She expressed her thanks to the country for the opportunity to participate in the competition abroad. “All is well in Budapest. I want to thank everyone in Chenzhou for their attention and I will work harder to achieve better results,” she added.

 

Her mother said the family would sit in front of the television for the games every night. They were so happy and excited and almost in tears when they saw the final result. 

 

But, behind all the applause and medals is the effort made by Fan who has been training for 15 years and working harder than anyone else.

 

Fan firstly became involved with Synchronised swimming in 2007 when a coach from the Chenzhou Sports Bureau came to select potential students at her school. Then she was selected because the coach thought she was pretty good in all aspects and had some dancing experience, which made her suitable for synchronised swimming. Therefore, she practiced for over half a month and was sent to the Hunan Swimming Center.

 

 

Through intensive training, he found that Fan learned things quickly and had great qualities required for a professional athlete. After a few months of training, he sent Fan to the Hunan Swimming and Diving Centre.

 

Fan’s parents were pretty concerned about her when she got trained in the provincial team. Considering that Fan was doing well in her academic performance and she would probably only grow to 162 cm according to skeletal age estimation, which would not be able to reach the standard required for a synchronised swimmer, her parents were hesitant about bringing her back to school to continue her studies.

 

“We took her back for the Spring Festival in 2007 and decided not to send her back to the provincial team,” said Fan’s mother. However, Fan didn’t accept their decision. At last, Fan gained the support from her family and went back to the provincial team. 

 

The basic skills required for a synchronised swimmer include flexibility training, split, handstand and holding breath underwater. For a child at 8, the training is quite cruel.

 

“I can’t remember how many times I’ve fainted from holding my breath and every time I’ve been pressed down by my teacher for a poorly executed move, I was in tears and gritting my teeth to tell myself to insist.” Fan was filled with emotions when looking back to the days she first came to the provincial team.

 

After three years of hard training, Fan officially joined the provincial team in 2010 and was selected for the national team in 2016 and then started her journey to pursue her dream of water ballet.