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By Xiao Ma (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-01 09:23

SHANGHAI - Retired Olympic breaststroke gold medalist Luo Xuejuan helped Shanghai on Thursday celebrate the beginning of its preparations for the 14th FINA World Championships, which will be held in 2011.

Athens Olympics swimming gold medalist Luo Xuejuan (left) receives a certificate from Yu Chen, director of the Shanghai Sports Bureau, after she was invited to be an "image ambassador" for the 14th FINA World Championships to be held in China's financial hub in 2011. [China Daily]

"I have seen the rapid development of sports these years and I am very confident that Shanghai will make the event a big success," Luo said at a press conference.

The official International Swimming Federation (FINA) event will be held at four world-class venues in Shanghai, said Yu Chen, director of Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau, adding the city has already launched the planning, construction and restoration process to prepare the venues.

Open-water athletes will compete at the Shanghai Water Sports Center 50 km from the city center at the lakefront of Dianshan Lake. The beautiful landscape and accommodations for 5,000 viewers makes it an ideal place for the sport.

Luo said she hopes the venues will bring out the best in China's swimmers.

"I hope Chinese swimmers will gain a good record in this Championships as well as in the upcoming Olympics," she said.

Shanghai won the rights to hold the FINA World Championships in March last year. China will be the second Asian host for a world swimming competition after Fukuoka, Japan, hosted the 9th FINA World Championships in 2001.

The biannual swimming championship is the biggest FINA event in the world. It includes a series of competitions in swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open-water swimming. It attracts more than 3,000 athletes and coaches from about 170 countries around the world.

China's best record in the tournament was at the 1994 Rome Worlds where its female swimmers swept 16 gold medals. But it suffered a setback in recent years, winning only one silver medal at the 2007 Melbourne Worlds. And the retirement of Luo last year made things more difficult for the Chinese team as she almost single-handedly lifted the squad by winning five world titles and one Olympic title.