China Announces 30-Strong Roster For Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

The Chinese Swimming Federation has announced its official roster for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The federation has named 19 women and 11 men to the team for a total of 30 swimmers. The roster hasn’t confirmed events, however, so we still don’t know who, for example, is swimming the women’s 200 fly out of the country’s three medal contenders on the roster.

Among those headlining the women’s team will be Wang Jianjiahe who is expected to race the women’s 800 and 1500 freestyles. Jianjiahe swam those 2 events along with the 400 freestyle for China at the 2019 World Championships. Jianjiahe qualified for all 3 finals and wound up winning a bronze medal in the 1500 with a 15:51.00 and placed 5th in the 400 free (4:03.67), and 6th in the 800 (8:18.57).

Zhang Yufei is another key member of the women’s team and will enter the 100 butterfly as top seed with her 55.62 Asian record from September 2020. Yufei is one of three women to have cracked 56 seconds in the event this season along with Torri Huske (55.66) and Emma McKeon (55.93).

One notable absence from the women’s roster is 2012 Olympic champion Ye Shiwen. Shiwen won gold in both the 200 and 400 IM in London, setting an Olympic record in the former and a world record in the latter. After falling off at the Rio 2016 Games, Shiwen made a comeback in 2019 at Worlds and took silver in both the 200 and 400 IMs, along with 4th in the 200 breaststroke. After failing to hit the FINA A cuts at the 2 recent Chinese qualification meets, Shiwen was not named to the team.

On the men’s side, 2 of China’s 3 individual medalists from the 2016 Olympics will be racing in Tokyo. 2016 silver medalist in the men’s 100 backstroke Xu Jiayu is slated to vie for a spot on the podium and currently holds the 4th fastest time worldwide this season. Jiayu holds a 52.35 from March 2021 which trails only Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (52.12), Kliment Kolesnikov (52.13), and USA’s Ryan Murphy (52.22).

2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s 200 IM Wang Shun will also be making a return to the Games and will swim the 200 and 400 IM along with the 200 freestyle. Wang Shun is within striking distance of returning to the podium and sits at #3 in the world this season with a 1:56.27 in the 200 IM behind Michael Andrew‘s 1:55.26 and Duncan Scott‘s 1:55.90.

Also on the roster is the 2019 World Championships bronze medalist in the men’s 100 breaststroke Yan Zibei. Zibei finished third in the event in Gwangju with a 58.63 Asian record and recently hit a 59.35 at Chinese Olympic Trials.

Women’s Roster

• Ai Yanhan
• Chen Jie
• Cheng Yujie
• Dong Jie
• Li Bingjie
• Liu Yaxin
• Peng Xuwei
• Tang Muhan
• Tang Qianting
• Wang Jianjiahe
• Wu Qingfeng
• Xin Xin
• Yang Junxuan
• Yu Jingyao
• Yu Yiting
• Yu Liyan
• Zhang Yifan
• Zhang Yufei
• Zhu Menghui

Men’s Roster

• Cheng Long
• He Junyi
• Hong Jinquan
• Ji Xinjie
• Sun Jiajun
• Qin Haiyang
• Wang Shun
• Xu Jiayu
• Yan Zibei
• Yu Hexin
• Zhang Ziyang

The official list released by the Chinese Swimming Federation did not list which events each athlete had qualified for. Chinese Swimming News and Results have, however, compiled a list of which athletes have hit FINA A and FINA B cuts in events, offering an approximation of what we can expect to see each athlete race:

Our projected roster for Chinese Olympics swimming team

❕This is only our projected roster according to the selection policy. The official roster has not been announced yet. pic.twitter.com/i1DCam7CvY

— Chinese Swimming News and Results (@CHNswim_fan) June 11, 2021