Liu Xiang wins Asian Championships in Colombo (© Chua Chong Jin)
Chinese athletes are beginning to show better quality performances following a long period of silence. The national media, which has always been frustratingly sceptical about their athletes' potential for success in international competition, is starting to show interest in athletics again.
Last week there were many articles written about the two first national grand prix meetings and the Race Walking national championships. China's lone medallist from Sydney was Wang Liping's gold in women's 20 km walk and the Chinese federation has been desperate to drive athletes to better performances before the Athens Olympics.
During last summer, athletics writing in the press was practically non-existent because there were so few good performances. However, already last autumn Sun Yingjie's double over 5000/10000m at Asian Games followed by a high class Beijing International Marathon gave hope to the Chinese media.
Last week articles were naturally mostly about the Race Walking championships, especially the male walkers who are now expected to fight for the medals at the 2003 World Championships in Paris for the first time since the mid-1990's.
The 9th National Games at Guangzhou in 2001 produced some good performances, but there was no comparison to the World record breaking versions of the games in Beijing 1993 and Shanghai 1997.
2002 was a very quiet year too, as usual after the National Games, and something had to be done in case the promises about multiple athletics medals in Beijing 2008 Olympics could not be fulfilled.
As such, a new bonus system has been introduced starting with the first outdoor meeting at Nanning, Guangxi province. As expected the star athlete at that event in Nanning was Liu Xiang, who took the bronze in Birmingham at the 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in March. In Nanning, Liu Xiang won his event in 13.30 - equal to the 10th performer in the world last year, and by doing so he earned a bonus of approx $1600 US.
A full bonus table has not been made available yet, but a World record would be worth $16,000 US for Chinese athletes in domestic competition.
While these figures don't seem to be very big to western eyes, they are huge for the Chinese. The average Chinese living in a city earns around $750 US per year, so Liu's $1600 US for one race gave him more than twice the average yearly salary!
In the second national GP meet, Liu bettered his season best to a world leading 13.21 earning another $1600 US, with his time also being fastest 110m hurdles ever on Chinese soil.
Liu is still living with his parents in Shanghai, and recently said in an interview that he is completely devoted to athletics at moment and that his favourite hobby is to help in household work.
The 110m Hurdles is a very high standard event in comparison to other Asian countries. The second outdoor meeting at Guangzhou saw the best quality race of all-time in China with the fifth placed athlete recording a time of 13.83. Oldest of these competitors was 24-years-old, with the other four all 20 or under, so there is a lot more potential in China than just Liu Xiang.
Another event which saw the bigger bonus payments was the women's Hammer. As expected, after Gu Yuan's win at the IAAF World Cup in this event last year, the Chinese are advancing further this season.
At Nanning it was not Gu, but two others who went over 70 metres for the first time in their careers. The former Asian record holder Zhao Wei won the competition with 70.67, and only 7cm behind (70.60) was 20-year-old Zhang Wenxiu, the Asian junior record holder, with both throwers earning $1600 US for their efforts.
Also, at the same meeting, the Asian Games double winner, Sun Yingjie, showed good early pace as she won the 5000m in 15:28.72 and then three days later in Guangzhou ran 15:21.26. Although these performances have not earned her any bonus yet, they are far faster than any times in regular Chinese meetings outside National Games, City Games or National Championships. It would seem that Sun does have the ability to keep her level high all season, which some earlier Chinese women distance runners have not expressed.
Sun covered her 10km leg at the recent Beijing women's Ekiden in 30:59, which indicates she is sure to be fighting for top placings in Paris at this August’s World Championships.
Last weekend's Chinese Race Walking championships featured the biggest bonus incentive of the year so far. The pressure was enormous before the competition because the prize for the best winner was a 1 kg gold bar worth around $16,000 USD
The winner of this special prize was determined by which of the winning results, from the men's 20 km & 50 km and women's 20 km, would have been the highest ranked performance based on the 2002 world lists.
Chinese walking has been at a generally high level, but during the last few years their men have not been very close to the world top. Since Li Zewen was 4th at Podebrady World Cup in 1997 in 1:18:32, no Chinese walker has been able to get this high in either 20 km or 50 km walk. Also times in the National Championships have been very low.
Li Zewen retired after last season, as did women's star 31-year-old Wang Yan who won the 2001 National Games in Asian Record of 1:26:22. 2000 Olympic Champion Wang Liping is also out this season as she gave birth to a baby in October 2002, and although she has started to train again for Athens 2004, she will not be a contender for top places in World Championships this year.
The first day (Saturday, 12 April) of the national championships held at Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, showed that the gold bar was a very important incentive. 19-year-old Zhu Hongjun, originally from Qinghai, went to the lead from the gun in the men’s 20km walk.
Zhu had started the race too fast and at 12 km he already had two warnings against him for lifting, and Asian Games Champion Yu Chaohong was lurking just behind.
However, Zhu, who recently moved to Liaoning province to join "Ma's Army", was able to take control of his technique and avoid further problems and disqualification, which had been his fate in Asian Games last year.
The famous distance coach Ma Junren has come to the spotlight again through the coaching of Zhu, who finally broke away from Yu at 16 km and won the race in a world leading time of 1:18:43, the fastest by a Chinese walker since 1997. Asian Games winner Yu was second in the world's second fastest this year, 1:18:56.
On Monday (15 April), the last day of the walking championships, Yu Chaohong was in action again, and after his fast time in 20 km two days earlier, Yu found himself in another tight battle over 50 km distance this time. The race was only decided in the final straight of the sunny course, with Yu edging the win in 3:44:12, the 3rd fastest time in the world this season. Yu's time was the fastest by a Chinese since 1996.
The evening of the last day produced the biggest surprise of the championships. In absence of the older stars, it was 18-year-old Song Hongjuan who took the win in 1:27:16. Song won with the home crowd cheering, although she was only representing Jiangsu for the first time this season, after moving from Jilin province in last November.
Song's previous best in the 20 km distance was only 1:40:38, with which she took 40th (!) place in the 2001 national championships. 1:27:16 is also a World Junior best bettering Natalya Fedoskina's (RUS) 1:27:35 from 1999.
Overall, it was men's 20 km winner Zhu Hongjun who finally got the gold bar - his winning result of 1:18:43 would have been second in the 2002 world list. Women's 20 km winner Song Hongjuan was narrowly behind as her 1:27:16 would've been third in last season lists.
More of these gold prizes will be awarded in other Chinese national championships during this season. As usual, there will be "second" national championships in the walks in September.
