China's newly crowned Olympic swimming champion Jiao Liuyang is about to take another challenge by swimming with the Party as a congress delegate.

The 21-year-old was elected as one of the 300 delegates of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police for the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), People's Daily reported on August 8.

As a member of the swimming team for the Guangzhou Military Region, south China, Jiao was the first PLA soldier to win an Olympic gold in swimming. The Beijing Olympic runner-up made a splash in the London pool to take the women's 200 meters butterfly title at the 2012 Olympics, breaking the world record set by teammate Liu Zige.

All the delegates representing Chinese soldiers and armed police followed strict electoral procedures. They will get final approval to attend the 18th CPC National Congress after checks by the credentials committee.

China's Jiao Liuyang poses with her gold medal during the women's 200m butterfly victory ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Center, Aug 1, 2012. [Photo bu Cui Meng/ chinadaily.com.cn]