Chinese butterfly specialist Zhou Yafei reacts after finishing the women's 100m butterfly final at the National Aquatics Center, also known as the "Water Cube" during the Beijing 2008 Olympics August 11, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

One step missing the podium in the Water Cube on Monday didn't make Chinese butterfly specialist Zhou Yafei upset at all.

"In such a tough race, I'm really satisfied with my result. The Chinese swimming has also been improving a lot," said the veteran struggling with injuries all along.

After setting a new personal best of 57.68 seconds in the semifinals Sunday morning, the 24-year-old swam a little bit slower in Monday's final, finishing fourth by clocking 57.84 seconds.

"To be frank, I was rather tired after the semifinals," said the World Championships finalist. "The final for me was really a big challenge in physical, but mentally I didn't allow myself to admit it. After all, completing three races all under 58 seconds was a success to me."

Zhou fainted alongside the pool after helping the Chinese women's medley relay team to clinch the title at the 2003 Barcelona World Championships. In recent years, She was tormented a lot by her back and shoulder injuries.

Zhou suffered a tearing ligament on her left shoulder last December. Then, the butterfly specialist was hit by an acute left shoulder ache relapse about ten days before the Chinese national Olympic trials this April. Two months later, she was tortured again by shoulder injury due to a uncomfortable test for the extremely tight Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.

"Ahead of the Olympic Games, I was really nervous as I could not foresee what would going on in the pool," said Zhou who finished the heats in 57.70 seconds Saturday evening. "But the preliminary race made me confident even though I realized that the top swimmers were fast beyond imagination."

"At last year's World Championships, my result of 59.3 seconds was ranked tenth in the heats, but you can only be placed about 30th here with the same time," the experienced swimmer said.

Head coach Zhang Yadong has declared that the Chinese swimming team was not expected to grab any gold at the Beijing Games, but Zhang Lin's breakthrough in the men's 400-meter freestyle on Sunday was still a impetus to the host team.

"We are still far away from the top level in the swimming world and we are low-keyed towards the Games," said Zhou. "No matter what, we train very hard everyday and we prepare for winning glory for our country."