A Chinese swimmer has made history again. Last week, Qin Haiyang,    1     won all the 23 gold medals in the men’s breaststroke (蛙泳),     2     (award) as the Best Male Swimmer of the Year 2023 of World Aquatics in Budapest, Hungary. This    3     (recognize) came just a day after he secured the Swimming World Cup Overall Male Award.     4     (amazing), at the championships in Fukuoka, the 24-year old broke the Asian record five times and became the first swimmer in history    5     (earn) all three breaststroke titles at a single edition of the event.

Chinese swimming in men’s breaststroke events was hardly talked about    6    the sudden appearance of Qin. Before him, China’s    7     (late) achievement in the men’s 100m breaststroke even was made by Qi Lieyun when he beat the word record in 1957. Qin’s winning in Fukuoka has filled a 66-year gap    8    China’s history. In breaststroke    9    almost all the movements are underwater, swimmers required high technical skills. “Even    10    slight difference in the angle of your palms is likely to affect your speed in the water,” Qin told Jimu News.

How deep can a person dive underwater without any     1     (breathe) equipment? As one of the world’s top female freedivers, China’s Xu Tongtong’s answer is beyond the limit.

Freediving is gaining     2    (popular) across the world. Divers rely only on their lung capacity to plunge as far as they can-either in open water in so-called “depth” events or in the swimming pool,     3     (simple) called “pool” events.

This year, the 35-year-old Xu     4     (dive) 100 meters underwater successfully in both constant weight (CWT) and constant weight bifin (CWTB) contests, becoming only the third female freediver on the planet     5    (reach) this depth. “When I dived 100 meters and grabbed the depth tag, I knew I had done it and     6    (swim) back to the surface with a smile,” Xu joyfully recalled of her     7     (history) feat (壮举).

Hailing from East China’s Anhui province, Xu changed from swimming to freediving in 2014. “I was able to enter the three-dimensional world from a two-dimensional space. That is     8     I fell in love with freediving,” she told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview. The biggest attraction of freediving lies     9     facing up to and overcoming our fears. The training is a process of constantly knowing oneself, said Xu. After three months of training and competing this year in Panglao, Xu decided to stay on the island to continue her training and coaching,     10     major source of income for this world-class freediver.

As an outstanding American gymnast (体操运动员), Simone Biles has won more medals     1     any other gymnast in American history. Although Biles has made great achievements in sports, she had never received     2     college education before. But it has changed. Biles is a college student now.

Biles had planned to go to the University of California Los Angeles,     3     she could go into a classroom and listen to lessons in a traditional way, but her busy life made it nearly impossible     4     (study) full-time at a university. So she     5     (decide) to take some classes at the University of the People, an online university, which     6     (set) up by Shai Reshef, an Israeli-born businessman. It offers degree programs of different levels. Now Biles is working hard to get her first degree, and she is     7     (satisfy) with the online education though she hasn't had a traditional school experience since she went to high school. She was home-schooled during her high school years to save time for her gymnastic     8     (train) .

The school's nontraditional methods are     9     (particular) fit for Biles, and her hard-working spirit     10     (shape) her gymnastic career will help her in her studies as well.

The ancient Chinese martial art(武术) tai chi has     1     (increasing) become popular among New Yorkers, thanks to the efforts         2     (make) by former world martial art champion Chen Sitan. From five-year-old kids to the elderly in their 70s, people from different cultural backgrounds in New York have been attracted to the martial art.

Chen started learning martial art at the age of six. By the age of 30 when he ended his athletic career, he     3     (win) 32 gold medals in Chinese and international competitions. After     4     (train) athletes in sports teams for several years, Chen decided to come to the United States in 2003     5     (bring) Chinese culture to more people around the world through tai chi. “Tai chi is not only about     6     (compete); it means much more,” said Chen. This gentle form of exercise helps keep     7     (strong) and balance, and can be     8     activity suitable for almost everyone.

Although tai chi is already getting popular in fast-paced New York City and neighboring areas, Chen is not satisfied     9     the achievements he has made. He is developing a training program through     10     his school could train more excellent teachers.