Zhang Jian Becomes First Chinese to Cross English Channel

Zhang Jian Crosses English Channel

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Zhang Jian became the first Chinese to successfully cross the English Channel in 11 hours 56 minutes on Sunday.

Zhang, 37, started at 6:30 this morning from Dover's Shakespeare Cliff and landed at Calai beach of the French side at 6:26 in the afternoon guided by a boat piloted by Duncan Taylor, general secretary of the English Channel Association.

The Beijinger set a world record last August by swimming across the 109-kilometer Bohai Channel, the longest water covered by a male swimmer in the world.

Zhang, a teacher of Beijing Sports University, said his hope of overcoming the 33.8-km channel was almost dashed after four hours. "I suffered some stiff muscles because the water is too cold," he said. "I was very nervous. That never happened even when I had overtrained at home."

"But I told myself not to give up," he said. "I must fight until the last gasp."

Some 6,000 swimmers had tried to cross the English Channel in the last century, but only 13 per cent of them succeeded.