On January 6, 1987, Zhang was born in Haidian Deistrict, Beijing City. He is the second son to his parents Zhang Zhongquan and Zhang Fenglan. He has an elder brother Zhang Cong who is five years his senior. Both of his parents are employed by a property management company. Zhang began swimming at the age of seven. In 2000, he decided to be a professional swimmer. His swimming idol is Australian Grant Hackett. Zhang is an alumnus of Beijing 101 Middle School. Since 2016, Zhang has been studying in Beijing Sport University.
Swimming
Career
Zhang specialized in the 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle events. Zhang was selected for the national team in 2002. At the 2003 World Aquatics Championships, he was the only Chinese male swimmer to reach the individual finals, finishing in eighth place. In 2005, he broke China's 400 freestyle record at the National Games, and was crowned 200 and 1,500 freestyle champion. Zhang Lin won a silver medal in the men's 400 meter freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing with a time of 3:42.44, 0.58 seconds behind gold medalist South KoreanPark Tae-hwan, and making him at the time the third fastest 400 meter freestyler in history. Zhang's silver was the first Olympic swimming medal ever by a Chinese male swimmer. At 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Zhang won a bronze medal in the men's 400 meter freestyle and a gold medal in the men's 800 meter freestyle ; this was a world record and a first by a Chinese male in a world swimming competition in the past 73 years, and was also the penultimate men's swimming world record achieved in the high-tech slick-suit The high-tech slick-suits were immediately banned thereafter from official-sanctioned major competition use under new FINA regulations after the 2009 World Championships. Zhang was named 2009 Pacific Rim Male Swimmer of the Year by ’‘Swimming World Magazine’‘, it's also the first Chinese male swimmer to win this award. Zhang was coached by Zhang Yadong and Chen Yinghong. He was also coached by Australian Denis Cotterell since late 2007, who was the former coach of distance champion Grant Hackett. In the fall of 2011, he trained with Dave Salo at the Trojan Swim Club for a 52-day training camp. In 2010, Zhang found that he suffered a rare kind of asthma, and it led his decline. He missed the 2012 Summer Olympics. Zhang announced his retirement around 2013. He sometimes attends some sport activities.
Rivalry
Zhang's greatest rivals were countryman Sun Yang and Korean Park Tae-hwan. They competed in many top-class competitions, including the Olympic Games, FINA World Championships and Asian Games. All three are regarded as the greatest Asian male swimmers in history; they set many Asian swimming milestones. Zhang is the first Chinese male swimmer to become world champion, to win an Olympic medal and to hold a world record. They have also become friends outside the pool.
