Zhou Chunxiu made a history

Zhou Chunxiu became the 1st Chinese woman runner to win prestigious London marathon. I was so excited and watched her winning clips for a few times. Her time was also brilliant: 2:20:38 which is number one in the world so far and her 2nd career best behind 2:19:51 set in Seoul marathon last year.

I never imagine Zhou can achieve this much. She caught my eye sight when she won the Xiamen marathon in a 2:34:16 (Mar 30, 2003). She was already 24 of age which is considered old in Chinese sports. She improved to 2:23:41 in Beijing Marathon later in October 19 to finish behind Sun Yingjie (who was suspended for 2 years due to drug offence since October, 2005). In 2004, She went 2:23:28 (Mar 27) for victory in Xiamen marathon and selected in Olympic team. She finished disappointing 33rd in Athens with a time of 2:42:54 (August 22). You know, you got to pay a price if you are inexperienced. Again, she finshed behind Sun in Beijing Marathon that year (2:28:42, October 17). In 2005, she achived a feat with four sub-2:30 marathons including 2:23:24 (1st in Seoul, Mar 13), 2:29:58 (1st in Xiamen, Mar 26), 2:24:12 (5th in Helsinki, August 14) and 2:21:11 (2nd in Beijing, October 16). Noted that between Seoul and Xiamen, there were only 13 days for her to recover. Also, after she finished 2nd in Beijing behind Sun which was also part of 10th National Games, she and Sun flied to Nanjing for women's 10000m 2 days later ending up in 3rd finish (31:09) behind Olympic champion Xing Huina and Sun, 3rd in 2003 world championships. After this race, Sun, the 2nd placer in the race, failed in drug test and Zhou moved up to the 2nd place.

Since then, Zhou moved on and established herself to be the Chinese number 1. In 2006, She became the 7th woman in history to run magical sub-2:20 barrier in Seoul (2:19:51, Mar 12). She was also the 2nd Chinese woman to ran below 2:20. The 1st one is Sun (2:19:39 in 2003). In the year end, she won Asian Games in a tough condition in Doha (2:27:03, Dec, 19, 2006) and beat Japanese runners by 3 minutes.

In pre-race interview before London marathon, she confessed her training was smooth and she came here to gain more experience and learn from others. This was also her third marathon in Europe since Athens and Helsinki and she beat a strong field with at least 6 sub 2:23 runners including Lornah Kiplagat, Berhane Adere, Gete Wami, Constantina Tomescu-Dita and Benita Johnson.

As usual, Chinese media starts the hype about her becoming the definite gold favourite without knowing the complexity in marathon. There were so many examples. I thought people still remembered the world record holder, Paula Racliffe in 2004 Olympics had to stopped in the race when she was claimed to be the pre-race red hot favourite. It is a 42.195km distance. No matter how fast you run in the 1st 30km, something may just go wrong and make you stop. It can be so disappointing. After the win, Zhou said she only targets a medal and a gold is the best.

Splits for Zhou:
10km: 32:56
20km: 66:18
Half: 69:58
30km: 1:39:35
40km: 2:13:23
42.195km: 2:20:38