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.

Olympic record-setting Chinese teen Quan Hongchan collected gold in the synchronized 10m platform (双人10米跳台) event alongside her partner Chen Yuxi, at     1     Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre on Saturday. The duo (二人组) racked up a total 375.30 points — 85.26 points more than the Japanese silver medalists. In fact, the two teens     2     (win) all major titles in the women’s 10m platform events over the last three years.

Quan was born in a small village of Zhanjiang, Guangdong, in 2007 and took up     3     (dive) at age 7. She     4     (encourage) to try the sport because of the agility (灵活) she showed while jumping when she played hopscotch (跳房子游戏) at school.

“I’d never tried any other sports before,     5     I enjoyed playing in the water,” she recalled. “From the very start, I could jump into the water     6     fear or hesitation.” The young diver is said to have initially (最初) taken up the sport to earn money     7     (support) her mother, who has an illness that requires constant care.

Journalists from around the world lined up for two hours to ask her questions. Her short and simple answers won     8     (smile) and sometimes laughs. Her longest response came when she was asked why she was carrying a toy turtle,     9     has been a hot topic at the Asiad, “Because I like it. Turtles are not good-looking, but they’re     10     (love)! I like them!”

Irene Schouten did what most people expected of     1     (she) at the Olympics: winning gold for the Netherlands at Beijing 2022.

But the speed skater was not satisfied     2     just being an Olympic champion. She quickly and       3     (elegant) established her position as the queen of the Ice Ribbon with three gold medals and a bronze (铜牌).

It has been a busy period for the Dutch star     4     had her days fully occupied (被占用) between training     5     skating in Beijing. She has also been busy     6     (plan) for her upcoming wedding.

Here is something you should know about Irene Schouten who won the first and last speed skating     7     (event) in Beijing.

Schouten let out a scream (尖叫) and threw her hands in the air as she crossed the finish line of the women’s mass start. Her     8     (three) gold medal at Beijing 2022 was hard-earned. It was worth all the effort. A natural-born long-distance skater, Schouten started skating when she was 8. Watching her first Olympics, Salt Lake 2002, she     9     (attract) by Gretha Smit’s silver winning moment in the 5000m.

That Olympic moment encouraged her interest in the long-distance races in speed skating. “When I was young, I had a strong wish     10     (win) Olympic gold and now I have it,” she said after her 5000m gold in Beijing.

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.

China’s men’s table tennis team beat the Republic of Korea, winning the men’s team title at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou. Table tennis legend Ma Long played     1     the third singles player to win the decisive victory for China. It     2     (be) 17 years since Ma Long first represented China in the Asian Games and won the gold medal in the men’s team.

He is now 35-year-old, but he shows no sign of age when     3     (compete) against other athletes. And his moves remain aggressive (侵略的). With great efforts, he finally managed     4     (achieve) the victory. It added a fifth Asian gold to Ma’s trophy cabinet (奖杯柜), which also     5     (include) an all-time record of five Olympic gold medals and 25 world championships titles dating back to 2006. He really set     6     example for athletes all over the world.

However,     7     is a pity that he had to bid farewell (告别) to the Asian Games at the post-match press conference (新闻发布会) because of his age. Ma wrote on his micro blog, “Love can last a long time. I’m     8     (extreme) grateful to my teammates and all the fans at the scene. It’s you     9     encourage me to go on. I’ll never forget all these good Asian Games     10     (memory). Keep going for the Chinese team!”