First Place in University Swimming Competition!

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I am proud to say I took 1st place in 50m Freestyle at the annual university competition, which was open to any of Hainan University's 30,000 students. I also came 2nd in 50m backstroke and 1st as part of the 4x50m relay, all of which was part of an overall win by the Foreigner's team, as it was also a competition between the various departments of the university. This might sound OK, but let's put it in perspective. I saw one Chinese man almost drown while flapping around in the water trying to save his friend who was even closer to drowning. I saw a teacher take 15 painstaking minutes to complete four lengths while I was waiting for my heat, with my feat scorching on the start post from the midday sun. I saw a man swimming in jeans, one girl giving up strength after half a length and needing to be fished out from the pool by a life guard. Why don't you see many Chinese swimmers in the Olympics? It just doesn't seem to be one of their strong points.
Hainan University has a proud motto :海大学生人人学会游泳 which means "All Hainan University students learn how to swim". This is enforced by a rule that says if you can't swim 200m by the time you graduate, you are refused your degree. Friends have told stories of amazingly bright students who passed their 4th year exams with flying colours but did not get a degree at the end of it because they couldn't swim. The rule is in place because of the fact the university is on an island, and would be a logical safety measure if more students actually found time in the middle of their studies to enjoy the seaside.
With this rule in place I am truly in awe at how few seemed capable of swimming properly, and it made me realise how much we take for granted the fact that we were taken every week as children to be coached by qualified instructors. I had almost forgotten that swimming is not just something we all know how to do.
There was of course the odd sports-major student and other foreigners upping the competition, so I did put in the hard work beforehand training occasionally, learning race starts, and even bought a pair of tight swimming pants.

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