BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Like it or not, top swimmers have to compete for Olympic gold medals here in mornings instead of evenings in which they used to do.

The controversial decision made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to change the swimming final schedules has set top swimmers on test for the gold rush at the impending Beijing Olympics in August.

Some gestures OK with the adjustment, but some others not.

World champion Britta Steffen, who clinched three titles at The Good Luck Beijing 2008 Swimming China Open, said she felt no problem with morning finals.

"I don't have any problems with finals in the morning. Whenever if it needs, I can play my best", the world record holder said after she won her event of the women's 100m freestyle on Friday.

In fact, Britta was the few who had a better performance than that in the evening heat during the Olympic test event. Polish swimmer Otylia Jedrzejczak, who improved her performance by almost two seconds in the women's 200m butterfly final here, however, never stopped criticizing the format.

"I feel tired and even sleepy when the final proceeds", Otylia, the Athens Olympic gold medalist, said, adding that she would not adopt any special training program for the morning finals.

Asian swimmers seemed more affected by the Olympic format. China's butterfly specialist Shi Feng, who snatched the title of men's 100m butterfly, swam 0.05 second slower than he did in the heat, and gold medalist Xu Yanwei, 0.16 seconds slower, Japanese Natsumi Hoshi, who was crowned in women's 200 meters butterfly, 1.20 seconds slower, and her teammate Yuta Suenaga who took the title of men's 100m breaststroke by 0.44 second slower.

"We have already shifted our morning training session from 9 a.m. to 6 a.m.... but It is still hard to get excited and reach peak form in the morning," said Chinese world champion Qi Hui after she surprisingly finished final of her event, the women's 200m breaststroke final, in the last place.

Veteran swimmer Zhang Lin, who set a new national record and won three golds for China in the tounament, was edged the third in the men's 200m fly in the first-day competition.

"I was better prepared than yesterday and gradually adapted to the morning finals," Zhang explained after he sliced the national record. However, the freestyler admitted that the new record was "beyond his expectation".

Last October, regardless FINA appeals, the IOC decided to move swimming finals and much of the gymnastics at next year's Games to the morning, after American broadcaster NBC requested the switch to coincide with prime-time in the United States.

Several leading swimmers have objected to morning finals, saying they would destroy the established training patterns of swimmers which are tailored to morning heats and evening finals.

"Nobody wants to swim the final in the morning, but as the IOC has already made the decision, players have to adjust to it in the superior interests of the game", chairman of FINA press commission Camillo Cametti said in an interview with Xinhua.

According to Cametti, a number of high-profile swimmers have already started to adjust their training timetables to fit the time of the Olympic finals.

"It's not a matter of accepting (morning final) or not, it's a matter of finding a way to be better adapted to the schedule", German head coach Orjan Madsen told Xinhua on the sideline of the China Open.

"I think the morning finals will have much less impact on swimmers than many people have predicted, ...and believe me, who finds a way to get more compatible with the time format, who wins the game," Madsen said.