Chinese butterflyer Wu Peng shattered his hope to a podium finish at men's 200m butterfly of the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday morning, but with no regrets since he had swum his personal best to share the fourth position with New Zealand's Moss Burmester in the final.

"I will come back at the next Olympics, and I will continue my quest for an Olympic medal four years later," Wu said after the race.

The 21-year-old, popularly regarded as China's best Olympic swimming hope, swam at 1:54.35, shaving off his personal best by 0.47 seconds, but still 2.32 seconds slower than the world record set up by American Michael Phelps during the race side by side with him.

Wu told Xinhua that he hoped to swim into 1:54, however, even if he had done so, the score still could not guarantee him among the medalists.

"I have tried my best. I'm fast but they are much faster", Wu said.

As a 14-year-old lad, Wu grabbed two golds at the ninth Chinese National Games in 2001. One year later, the teenager defeated more heralded Japanese to bag home three golds from the 200m butterfly, the 400m individual medley and the 200m backstroke at the Asian Games.

In last year's Melbourne World Championships, Wu was second only to Phelps. His perform raised his fans' hope to see their hero could stand on the podium back home in Olympics.

Failing the expectation to earn China a medal at the race, Wu said he was not disappointed or had any regrets, on the contrary, he was quite satisfied with his performance, especially the final powerful charge that pushed him from the last to the fourth.

"Obviously there is still like a big gulf between me and the medal winners, but that's alright, I will do my best to bridge the gap. Let's see what will happen in London (2012 Olympics)," Wu said in confidence.

(Xinhua News agency August 13, 2008)