WC ended...

So, finally, World championships ended after a week of competition. China received a silver and many fifths this time. After the last blog, China received another 3 fifths and their results are impressive. First is women 400m hurdle which is really a breakthrough for China. For this event, China has no place in the world; even in Asia, they lost the last 2 Asian Games to Kazah Torshina. The Asian record co-held by Han Ching (in 1993) and Song Yingnan (in 2001) were set in Chinese national Games (CNG), the results of which cannot reflect the true status of Chinese track and field in the world. Huang Xiaoxiao, who was the runner-up in 2001 CNG did not catch much attention of me because she just disappeared in 2002 like many athletes did after the CNG. That result was also a former world junior record (55.15s). In 2003, she did more competitions and won the mini CNG, City Games with a time near her pb and she also won the flat 400m (51.93s) showing she also has some speed in her. She seems to do better and better thereafter and she qualified to the 2nd round in the Olympics in 2004 with her 1st sub-55s time 54.83s. In early season of 2004, I can tell she wants to achieve something bigger than a national champ or Asian Champ. In domestic competitions, those elite athletes only use up 50% of their power to qualify. Huang seems to be a little different that she also wants to run a bit fast in the heats. What I think is that she tries to adapt the furious competition in those big championships. Finally, she paid off and becomes the 1st Chinese placed in top 8 in this event in any major championships. She also set a pb 54.37s in semi final which placed her 2nd in all time list for Chinese in this event. Asian record is just a matter of time. She also made a point that I so agree with. She said most of the Chinese athletes are not professional enough and they might not 100% love what they are doing. Here, it is a Q. If you don't have a motive, there will be no drive. If you don't all love what you are doing, you are not giving all you have.

Zhou Chunxiu finally got up to her standard finishing 5th in women Marathon. She did so many good times in these years but she just owes herself a chance to prove she also can do well in major competition. 2:24:12, which I think is the best time a Chinese ever did in major competition. I think in this event, the marks that Ma's army runners had left have faded away. Sun Yingjie, Zhou, Wei Yanan are the ones to watch in the near future. I was just wondering why Wei is not racing. Is she having the doping problem again? Hope not.

Finally, Xing broke her pb in 5000m and finished 5th behind those Ethopian girls again.

A better day for chinese team in World track and field championships

After the first few uninspiring days, China won the 1st medal. Of course, this time again, the medal is won by the Chinese favourite, Liu Xiang. A furious competition, 4 strong Americans, world leader, French Ladji Doucouré (12.97s). Liu might be easily kicked out of the podium if he made a small mistake. Finally, he came off pretty well and got a silver. I think Chinese might not be fully satisfied with his performance because since he won the Olympics, everyone in China has tremendously high expectation on him. There are a lot of positive and negative responses about him when I went through the comments on Sina web. It is a bit scary this Shanghai hurdler can boil up the issues like the hostility between Shanghai and Beijing. Anyway, there are still quite a lot supportive comments that appreciate his fine performance.

To me, people in China is way too concerned about him. First, he is the Number 1 Chinese male in track and field who won one of the Western-dominated event in the Olympics. Furthermore, he is doing something other Chinese athletes are not doing: Competing in Grand Prix like other international elite athletes. Also, He has a young, positive and healthy image. The combination of all these makes him become an idol other than an elite athlete in China. This can be proved in domestic competitions. Stadium is crowded only when Liu's show is on. From this, they are only concerned about the appearance of Liu, not the competition itself. Obviously, the overwhelming concern disrupts his training. Is it possible to look at him as a human being like anyone else who is trying his best in what he is doing? To me, even if he couldn't make to the final, it would be great to see him run a quality time. Everyone has ups and downs, no one can always stand at the top.

Three fifth placers yesterday

First is Gao Shuying. I am so glad to see Gao Shuying make a great comeback after some disappointing years. Based on the personal bests of all finalists, she is the second last and she managed to be one of five jumper who hurled over 4.50m which is just 2 cm short of her Asian Record. This result is remarkable provided that the weather condition is not perfect. Athen Olympics men's pole valut champion, Tim Mack made a compliment of her: I was impressed with the Chinese girl, Gao Shuying. She looked like she jumped just what she needed to jump to get here... I am also impressed about her courageous answer Gao was asked how she looked at Isinbeyeva: My goal is always on her. I think it is not easy to come up with this answer. You should know Isinbeyeva's first jump was 4.50m (which was successful on her 1st attempt) and ended at 5.01m. She seems like coming from another world that no one can even get close. The winning margin is 41 cm this time. Nevertheless, time will prove if Gao is bluffing.

Zhao Chengliang was placed fifth in the 50km walk which to me is a touturing event. I followed closely the split time at every 5km. Zhao was ranked 3rd in the world behind another 2 compatriots who couldn't finish the race. At 40km, he still ranked 3rd behind 2 Russians. I really hope he can win a medal since no Chinese male walker ever won a single medal in either the Olympics and World Championships. But it was not auspicious that I could see one norweigen and one Italian walker were closing the gap. Finally, both of them overtook Zhao and set national records for their countries. It is still the best results among all Chinese walkers this time and he also did a pretty good time.

Zhang Wenxiu also finished fifth in Woman hammer throw. She set the Asian record this year (73.24m) but she was not quite up to her standard. She had no throw over 70m. I was also diasppointed for Song Aimin in Discus who could not make the top 8. I thought she had a pretty good chance to make top 5, even get a medal because she did pretty well in the heats. On the other hand, Ma Shuli performed well and finished 6th. Her best throw was about 1 metre short of her personal best. I always think among all throwing events, China has the most solid woman discus throwers. In the recent years, there are at least 3 to 4 throwers every year who can throw over 60m. However, none of them manages to get up to the elite level.

Today, 2 events catch my eyes: women 5000m and 400m hurdle. Xing Huina and Sun Yingjie are racing in the 5k. Again they will be having a clash with a gang of Ethopians and Europeans. In 400m hurdle, Huang Xiaoxiao from Shandong is running 400m H. I don't want to predict if she will win a medal but I would be pleased to see her break the Asian Record (53.96s) which were set in 1993 and tied in 2001, both in disgusting Chinese National Games. I think the record is within her touch.