10-year-old girl swims to Hainan
A 10-year-old Beijing girl has swum the Qiongzhou channel between Guangdong and Hainan, making her possibly the youngest cross-strait long-distance swimmer in the world.
Wang Yiyan entered the water at 6am on Monday in Xuwen county, on the northern side of the strait, and swam the 25km to Haikou in 10 hours and five minutes.
She is the youngest person to swim the channel. Two years ago, a 13-year-old boy from Haikou made the crossing.
On Sunday, a Beijing policeman swam across the channel and back without a break.
It was Yiyan's second attempt at the crossing. Last year she had to give up half way across after being stung repeatedly by jellyfish.
Xinhua said Yiyan learned to swim at the age of three and began training as a long-distance swimmer four years later. Aged eight, she could swim 10km.
Yiyan's feat delighted her family and coach, but sports officials in Hainan said swimming across the channel was a dangerous activity.
