After the medal ceremony on Wednesday, the 19-year-old unexpectedly climbed into the stands to high-five Chinese fans and give away the stuffed animal the medalists receive on the podium. He then draped himself with a Chinese flag and flashed a giant grin for the photographers.
China’s swimmers have had a surprisingly strong meet thus far, winning four golds and 13 medals overall through Saturday — putting them just behind the US on the swimming medal table.
But while the team has a number of gold-medal contenders for the London Olympics — 100-meter women’s backstroke winner Zhao Jing, 200-meter women’s IM winner Ye Shiwen — it doesn’t yet have a superstar, someone on par with Italy’s Frederica Pellegrini or Michael Phelps, whom the Chinese have dubbed “Fei Yu,” or Flying Fish.
The charismatic Sun may be on his way. He has been the dominant distance swimmer at the worlds, winning the 800 freestyle in a time of 7 minutes, 38.57 seconds, more than three seconds ahead of Ryan Cochrane of Canada.
The time was also faster than Australian Grant Hackett’s former world record of 7:38.65, which had stood for four years before being eclipsed by Sun’s teammate Zhang Lin at the 2009 worlds in Rome in a now-banned bodysuit.
“Before the competition, I was already looking forward to getting the gold medal,” Sun said after the race. “When I touched the final wall today, I was so excited but I still know there are a lot of competitions in the future.”
Sun also won a silver in the 400 free and a bronze in the 4-x-200 relay, and he qualified first for Sunday’s 1,500 freestyle final with a preliminary time of 14:48.13.
Not only is Sun the favorite to win the 1,500, he could also break Hackett’s long-standing world record in that event.
Under the tutelage of Hackett’s former coach, Dennis Cotterell, Sun shocked the world at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last year by winning the 1,500 in a time of 14:35.43, just under a second off Hackett’s 14:34.56 from the Fukuoka, Japan world championships in 2001.
He may need to break the record to step out from behind the shadow of his own teammate, Zhang. Zhang became the leader of the men’s team after he surprisingly won a silver at the 2008 Olympics and a gold at the 2009 worlds.
Even at Sun’s press conference following his victory on Wednesday, he was asked as much about Zhang as he was his own race. One Chinese reporter even mistakenly called him Zhang.
“I think I am myself and Zhang Lin is himself. I don’t need to compare myself with others,” he said. “Yes, Zhang Lin won the gold medal before me, but I’m still young. I still have a lot of opportunities in the future.”
Sun is beginning to endear himself to the Chinese media after he was criticized for being in tears after nearly all of his races at the Asian Games, which some saw as a sign of immaturity.
But Terry Rhoads, managing director of Zou Marketing, a Shanghai-based sports consultancy focused on the China market, said Sun still has a long way to go before he supplants the likes of Yao Ming, Li Na or gold-medal-winning hurdler Liu Xiang in the Chinese consciousness.
“Sun needs to first win Olympic gold, set a world record or two, and generally dominate his sport for two Olympics to have a hope of slipping into the A-list,” Rhoads said.
“He also needs to show off some English skills with the foreign media and project some of his personality into interviews,” he added. “Just giving cliches to the media won’t satisfy China’s sports fans who are attracted to the rare superstar Chinese athletes who can be colorful, confident and be among the world’s best in their respective sport.”
Sun’s competitors, however, definitely believe he is a future star. American Chad La Tourette said Saturday he thinks the Chinese swimmer has a good chance of breaking the 1,500-meter record in Sunday’s final.
“It was 10 years ago that Hackett got that record. He’s the all-time great,” he said. “We could be turning a new stone with Sun Yang.”
