Ye Shiwen will lead China team on FINA/Arena World Cup

Beijing's iconic Water Cube will showcase some top swimming talent this weekend. The National Aquatic Centre, will host the Beijing leg of Swimming's World Cup. Chinese team will be spearheaded by Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Ye Shiwen.

More than 200 athletes from 20 countries and regions will compete in 34 individual events and 2 mixed relay events.

Sun Yang the posterboy for Chinese male swimmers will not attend the event, so the spotlight will most definitely be on Olympic champion Ye Shiwen.

Ye Shiwen said, "After I came back home from the Olympics, my training has been going on as usual. I took a long vacation after the Games, then I went to a training center at a higher altitude and had some recovery training there. I hope I can get back to my peak at this competition."

The 16-year-old Chinese swimmer grabbed two gold medals at the London Games.

But, it was not all good news, after one of her wins, an American coach questioned if the swimmer was doping because of her fast times. She swam the final 50m of her 400m IM quicker than the winner of the men's race.

Despite the success, she was nervous before her race.

Ye Shiwen said, "I do feel some sort of pressure. However, I will get over it once I get used to the pressures and participate at more competitions. "

Veteran American swimmer Anthony Ervin is also competing. At 31 years old Ervin, the men's 50m freestyle gold medallist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, is returning to the pool after a 9-year absence.

Anthony Ervin, Former Olympic Champion, said, "Just there is different knew-how to techniques how you prepare your relay, like who goes first and last, working on the strength of what strokes you have, whether it's to men or women. So I just think it's very interesting and its innovation in the sport."

There are 8 stops on the FINA/Arena World Cup this year.

For many swimmers, the world cups are preparation for the FINA Swimming Championships which will take place in Istanbul in December.