By Wang Yanlin, Chen Yin and Qian Rong
Training at the Qinghai-Tibet plateau contributed to the success of Chinese swimmers at the world championships in Rome, officials said.
In what was their best ever performance in more than a decade, Chinese swimmers broke four world records and won 10 medals, including four gold, at last month's world championships after spending about month training at the Duoba national training base, which is 2,366 meters above sea level, in northwest China's Qinghai province.
Yao Zhengjie, head coach of the Chinese swimming team, said high-altitude training would be "an ace in the hole" for China in their preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.
Li Hua, chief of the swimming center of the State Genaral Administration of Sport, agreed with Yao.
"Training at high altitude areas has proved very useful, as we achieved good results in both Bejing Olympics and 2009 World Championships," said Li.
"We will keep up this program in the future," he added.
Scientific researches show that training at high altitude help boost maximal oxygen transport to exercising muscle and thus enhance endurance.
Experts from home and abroad who attended an international forum on high-altitude training and health at Duoba this week believed that the altitude around 2,300 meters was the best condition for athletes.
"Duoba training base is enormous and very well equipped. If more athletes use it, it will be possible to increase the performance of athletes," said Ulrich Hartmann, director of the Institute of Movement and Training Science in Sports University ofLeipzig, Germany.
"You are lucky to have this very high plateau with this elevation, this is what we don't have at all in Germany."
Source: Xinhua
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