Ye aims to show she's still got fire

Ex-Olympic champion determined to put struggles behind her at Hangzhou worlds

Refreshed after a year away from the pool, former swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen is upbeat about her readjusted career prospects.

From surprising the world in her Olympic debut in 2012 to struggling at a domestic meet, Ye's career has been in sharp decline since winning both individual medleys (200 and 400m) at the London Games.

Physical and mental issues have taken a toll, but with speculation over Ye's retirement fueled by her return to college last year, the Zhejiang native said she's determined to come back stronger than ever.

"After all the ups and downs, which at one point made me feel like I've done my time in the pool, I recently realized that I still have a lot of opportunities ahead of me at only 22," Ye said on Tuesday before the opening ceremony of the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in her home city of Hangzhou.

"The quality time I spent away from competition in college has refreshed my mind, and I believe it's too soon to write myself off."

The six-day short-course swimming worlds, which returned to China after the 2006 edition in Shanghai, have attracted competitors from 178 countries and regions, including men's Olympic butterfly champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa, Italy's freestyle star Federica Pellegrini and Hungarian women's IM specialist Katinka Hosszu.

China has 42 swimmers in the meet, which wraps up on Sunday.

After tune-ups in the 25m World Cup series last month, Ye will be tested in the 100 and 200 IMs against the mighty Hosszu, who holds world records in both events on the long and short courses.

"To accept the fact that I am far from the world's best is the first step to start catching up with the best," said Ye.

After getting her career off to a flying start at the London Olympics at 16, Ye has struggled with a series of physical issues, including excessive weight gain and a right ankle injury.

She failed to win any medals at the next three long-course worlds or the 2016 Rio Olympics, and coped with bouts of depression and insomnia while dealing with negative reaction from fans and media.

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaching, in September 2017 Ye chose to return to Tsinghua University, where she had enrolled in 2014, to continue her undergraduate studies－a decision supported by her family and longtime coach Xu Guoyi.

"The campus offered her a shelter from all the doubts and gave her a break to recover physically and mentally," Xu said of Ye's adjustment.

Citing the prolonged career of Italian veteran Pellegrini, who won the 200m free at her seventh long-course worlds last year at age 29, Xu believes Ye can put her career back on course if she resets herself mentally.

Ye's shift of focus over the past year has already paid dividends, highlighted by back-to-back bronze finishes in the 200 IM at the World Cup's Beijing and Tokyo legs in early November and a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the Singapore stop.

With the medley race dominated by Hosszu, Ye said she is open to switching to single-stroke events to seek new breakthroughs.

The 200m breaststroke in Hangzhou, which takes place on Sunday, is much more of a toss-up, with this year's world leader Yulia Efimova of Russia and all three medalists at the 2016 worlds not competing.

As the world's second-ranked swimmer in the event this year, Ye will try to snap up her first major international title in four years, facing challenges from third-ranked Maria Temnikova of Russia and Spain's 2017 short-course Euros champion Jessica Vall.