Chinese swimming champion Ning Zetao credits success to Australian coach Matt Brown

Chinese swimmer Ning Zetao won the gold medal for the Men’s 100-metre freestyle along with the hearts of female fans on social media. Ning, a 22-year-old competitive swimmer from Zhengzhou, credits his Australian coach Matt Brown for his victory at the 2015 FINA World Championships held last Thursday, Aug. 6, in Kazan, Russia.

Ning revealed that Brown gave him a short course of training but it still helped his self-confidence for the swimming championship. “He is a very high-level coach,” Ning said about his swimming coach in The Australian report.

Ning plans to continue training with Brown to prepare himself for the Rio Olympic Games. Coach Brown, who works as the director of coaching at the Surrey Park Swimming Club in Australia, also praised Ning for his hard work and dedication to the sport even though he served a doping ban in 2011.

He got suspended for a year after testing positive to the steroid clenbuterol. “I rate him highly. He’s tough as a nails and so respectful,” Brown said in The Australian report.

Swimming Australia introduced a rule that prohibits foreign swimmers with doping convictions from using podium training centres. Fortunately, Ning can continue to train under Coach Brown because Surrey Park Swimming Club is not a podium training centre and Swimming Australia has no jurisdiction over the swimming club.

Meanwhile, China’s social media network Weibo reportedly garnered over 66 million readers through the hashtag “Ning Zetao makes history.” China Central Television (CCTV) host Lu Jian posted about Ning Zetao’s sudden rise to stardom on his verified Weibo account, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) China.

Lu claims Ning is “the husband in everyone’s dream.” Lu further added that the female users on the social media app WeChat went crazy overnight following Ning Zetao’s victory at the 2015 16th FINA World Championships. “Pictures of all angles of his abdominal muscles swept my WeChat Moments,” Lu posted on Weibo.

An unnamed user praised Zetao for his latest accomplishment in life. “He could have lived on his good-looking face and body, but instead he chose to live on his talent and hard work. A thumb’s up!” the anonymous social media user posted.

On Twitter, some users also heard of Ning Zetao’s victory, his good looks and physique. Below are some of the reactions posted on the microblogging site following Ning Zetao’s success at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

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