In the men's 800-meter freestyle final at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Chinese star Zhang Lin performed outstandingly, finishing with a time of 7 minutes and 32.12 seconds to break the world record held by Australian great Grant Hackett and claim the championship. He became the first male Chinese swimmer in history to win a gold medal at the World Championships. Tunisian Oussama Mellouli took the silver medal with a time of 7:35.27, while Canadian Ryan Cochrane won the bronze medal with a time of 7:41.92.
Zhang Lin first caught the attention of the global swimming community in the long-distance 800-meter event...