Olympics-Chinese swimmers take early plunge to prepare for Games

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BEIJING, May 15 (Reuters) Chinese swimmers will compete in morning finals at a major meet this week to get used to early rises at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, local media reported today.

Last October, the International Olympic Commission (IOC) decided to move swimming finals and much of the gymnastics at next year's Games to the morning, after American broadcaster NBC requested the switch to coincide with prime-time in the U.S.

Morning finals for the country's top swimmers at the Chinese Spring National Championships in Foshan, Guangdong province, were necessary to adapt to Olympic conditions, the People's Daily quoted China coach Zhang Yadong as saying.

''We should live by the Olympic timetable from now on... The national meet can tell us what to change and what to improve for the Olympic Games,'' Zhang said.

China's swimmers struggled with early finals at March's world championships in Melbourne, failing to win a single title.

''We changed our morning training session from 9 am to 6 am as soon as we came back home from the worlds... It is hard to reach peak form in the morning,'' Zhang said.

Over 400 swimmers from 30 provincial teams and clubs, including world 200m butterfly silver medallist Wu Peng, would compete at the seven-day meet which starts on May 15 and served as an Olympic qualifier, the paper said.

REUTERS AKD ND1214