Luo Xuejuan (also Luo Xue Juan; ; born January 26, 1984, in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

) is a female Chinese swimmer, who competed mostly in the breaststroke. She is a former world record holder in the 50-meter breastroke (short course).

Career

She began swimming in 1991 because her parents thought she was so thin that the exercise would make her stronger. Luo first caught sporting world attention when she won the 100 breaststroke at China's 2000 Olympics Trials in Jinan in a solid time of 1:08.87 and finished second in the 200 breaststroke in 2:27.29. Strangely, she was only selected to swim the 200 breaststroke, her weaker event, at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

a few months later. She posted a personal best of 2:25.86 in the semi-finals, only to falter in the final and finish 8th in 2:27.33. Going into 2001, Luo progressed rapidly. At the Chinese Nationals in April, she set a national record of 1:07.85 in the 100 breaststroke and placed 2nd in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.37) which was won by Qi Hui in a world record (2:22.99). Shortly afterwards, Luo lowered by 100 breast national record to 1:07.42 at the

2001 East Asian Games The 3rd East Asian Games were held in Osaka, Japan from May 19, 2001, to May 27, 2001. Sports The 2001 East Asian Games featured events in 15 sports, which was a new high for the competition. * Aquatics () ** Swimming ** Synchronized swimmin ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. At the 2001 World Championships in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

, Luo took home 4 medals, including gold in the 50 breaststroke (30.84, Asian record, missing the WR by a mere 0.01 sec) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.18, Asian record), and bronze in the 200 breaststroke (2:25.29 pb) and 4x100 medley relay (4:02.53; breaststroke split 1:06.47 was the 2nd fastest ever, behind USA's Megan Quann's 1:06.29 from Sydney 2000). Luo went on to win the 100 breaststroke at the 2001 Chinese National Games at 1:06.96 (Asian record). It was during these Games that she said her very well known quote, "The water in this pool is not very clean, but I am a clean swimmer myself" (referring to the series of astonishingly fast times posted by some totally unknown swimmers who were highly suspected of doping at the National Games). The year 2002 did not start out well for Luo. She failed to win any gold at the World Short Course Championships in Moscow, finishing 2nd in the 50 breaststroke (30.17) and 3rd in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.36). The Pan Pacific Championships were equally disappointing, where Luo only managed a bronze in the 100 (1:08.70) and was 4th in the 200. Ironically, her time in the 100 breaststroke semi-final (1:08.14) would have been enough to win gold in the final. Luo eventually shined at the 2002 Asian Games in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

, winning gold in Asian records in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.84, fastest time globally in 2002) and 4x100 medley relay (4:00.21). She also placed 2nd in the 200 breaststroke behind WR holder Qi Hui (2:24.01 to 2:24.67 pb). Before the 2003 World Championships in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Luo set her goal at erasing

Penny Heyns Penelope ("Penny") Heyns OIS (born 8 November 1974) is a South African former swimmer, who is best known for being the only woman in the history of the Olympic Games to have won both the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events – at the 1996 Atlan ...

' 1:06.52 from the world record books. The record was indeed broken in Barcelona, not by Luo but by Australia's 2000 Olympic silver medallist

Leisel Jones Leisel Marie Jones, OAM (born 30 August 1985) is an Australian former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medallist. A participant in the 2000 Summer Olympics – at just 15 years old – and 2004 Summer Olympics, she was part of gold-medal ...

in the semi-finals (1:06.37). Luo, the defending champion, immediately became the underdog as she qualified 3rd fastest (1:07.76). In the event final, as all eyes (and pressure) were on Jones, Luo took the race out really hard, splitting a mind-boggling 30.87 at the 50m mark. This strategy worked as Jones was disturbed by Luo's horrid pace. Luo hanged on to win the race in yet another Asian record of 1:06.80, the 3rd fastest time in history. Jones only managed 3rd in 1:07.47, with the USA's

Amanda Beard Amanda Ray Beard (born October 29, 1981), also known by her married name Amanda Brown, is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist (two gold, four silver, one bronze). She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststro ...

2nd in 1:07.42. Luo also defended her 50 breaststroke world title in 30.67 (30.64 in semi-finals, just 0.07 sec off the WR), and swam the fastest breaststroke relay split (1:05.79) to help China win the 4x100 medley relay in 3:59.89 (Asian record and 2nd fastest time in history; 2nd team after the USA to crack 4 mins).

2004 Summer Olympics

Luo's career highlight was the 2004 Summer Olympics, where she earned a gold medal in the 100 breaststroke in a new Olympic record of 1:06.64, the 3rd fastest time in history and just off the WR by 0.27 seconds (after qualifying 7th fastest in a mediocre 1:08.57), a remarkable feat considering that she was one of the slowest qualifiers for the final and swam in the outermost lane. Jones only managed a bronze (1:07.16), after setting an Olympic record of 1:06.78 in the semi-finals. Luo pulled out of the 200 breaststroke race to concentrate on swimming the 4x100 medley relay. Unfortunately the Chinese team only managed 4th place (4:03.35). Luo swam the race with a heartache problem and had to be helped to get out of the pool by her teammates after finishing her breaststroke leg (1:08.82).

After the Olympics

Shortly after the Olympics, Luo competed at the 2004 World Short Course Championships, where she finished 5th in the 50 breaststroke (31.15). Luo failed to defend her 50 & 100 breaststroke titles in the XI FINA World Swimming Championships in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 2005. She was 4th in 100 breaststroke (1:07.60) and 7th in 50 breaststroke (31.50). Yet this was understandable as Luo participated in the entire championships with an injured ankle but insisted on competing. She did win the 100 breaststroke at the 2005 Chinese National Games though, posting the 3rd fastest time of the year (1:06.86). She also won silver in the 200 (2:26.50) behind Qi Hui, and posted the fastest relay split (1:05.69) in history when she swam the breaststroke leg for the Zhejiang team in the 4x100 medley relay. Luo was surprisingly upset by young teammate Wang Qun (1:08.56 to 1:09.14) at the

2005 East Asian Games The 4th East Asian Games was an international multi-sport event for countries in East Asia which was held in Macau from October 29 to November 6, 2005. Host city At the 11th EAGA Council Meeting held in Guam in March 1996, Macau, then a Portugues ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

, though she captured gold in the 50 breast (31.67). The 2006 season saw Luo skipping all major international meets, including the World Short Course Championships in Shanghai and the Pan Pacific Championships in Vancouver. Rumours started to build that Luo had quarrels with longtime coach Zhang Yadong (Zhang was appointed head coach of the Chinese national team and hence no longer has as much time and attention on coaching Luo as before). Luo was said to have been "exiled" back for training at her home province of Zhejiang, although the swimming authorities insisted that she was still a national team member. At the 2006 Asian Games Trials, Luo managed to win the 50 breaststroke (31.75) and place 2nd in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.14), but her name did not appear on the official list of athletes. The official explanation for not selecting the Olympic Champion is that Luo needed more time to fully rehabilitate her heart condition in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. The media was speculating that Luo was close to retirement.

Retirement and afterwards

On 24 January 2007 Luo announced in a press conference that she was retiring from competitive swimming due to a heart surgery failure. According to Luo, doctors advised that her life might be in jeopardy if she continued to train at the intensity required for Olympic-level athletes. Following her retirement, Luo resumed her university studies. Luo Xuejuan became, on 24 March 2008, the ''second'' torchbearer at the

2008 Summer Olympics torch relay The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, al ...

and the ''first'' torchbearer for China. She expressed her view on Olympic ideals as follows:"As a torchbearer, I think the Olympic spirit means purity, fair play, friendship, passion, peace and harmony."Luo proud to be first Chinese torchbearer
, at the Official Website of the Torch Relay

References

External links