Silver medalist China's Zhang Yufei dives to start in the final of the women's 100-meter butterfly swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Monday. Photo: VCG

After finishing second in the women's 100-meter butterfly final, 23-year-old Zhang Yufei reacted with delight to the camera, making a victory sign and saying she "outperformed myself."

Her 55.64 seconds in the final was already the best of her three shots in the pool, and only 0.05 seconds behind winner Maggie MacNeil of Canada. 

Long influenced by Bill Shankly's words "if you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing," many Chinese athletes considered anything less than gold as being a defeat. The extra pressure when competing often resulted in those athletes underperforming. 

But Zhang's reaction showed that the younger generation are taking a different attitude toward gold medals, one that is reminiscent of swimmer Fu Yuanhui, whose exuberant personality during her Rio 2016 backstroke post-final interview made her an online sensation.

Zhang has made great progress since 2019. At the 2019 World Championships, her best result was 57.93 seconds - not enough to win a berth for the worlds final. But at the National Championships in 2020, Zhang clocked an Asian record of 55.62 seconds, just 0.14 seconds short of Swedish swimming great Sarah Sjostrom's world record of 55.48 seconds.

Zhang has now set her sights on winning a gold medal in the 100-­meter sprint at next year's World Championships, saying that although her best in the final at the Olympics resulted in a silver medal, that does not mean she is going to give up.

Perhaps her personal progress is the key reason why Zhang was still happy with winning silver: It proves that she is now among the world's top-level female butterflyers instead of a minnow swimmer only chasing the big names from behind. 

It was in Rio that Zhang made her first attempt for the Olympics. In the 200-meter butterfly final, she finished in sixth place. Later she burst into tears in the after-race interview, saying she had let down her coach and fans. Now, Zhang can focus on the 200-meter butterfly, with the heats kicking off on Tuesday. 

She has said that finishing top in both the heats and semifinals in the 100-meter fly made her nervous before hitting the pool in the final. Let's hope a less pressured Zhang can give us a surprise in the 200 meters.