Posted: May 25, 2006

Athletics: People’s Republic Of China - A Team Of Power And Promise

Quantity – and QUALITY.

How else to describe the People’s Republic of China team scheduled to compete for the Pacific World Cup at the June 8 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic?

This year, China is sending a full team of 18 men and 16 women to take part in the 23rd annual meet at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium. In 2005, a modest contingent of eight Chinese athletes competed against Canada for the inaugural Pacific World Cup, a small dual meet within the larger event.

Quality? How about an Olympic gold medallist, a world junior record holder and a runner with a world No. 1 ranking?

Olympic 2004 women’s 10,000-metre gold medallist Xing Huina leads the team of Chinese athletes slated to compete at this year’s Jerome meet. Xing, who will run the 1,500 metres on June 8, became just the second Chinese woman to win Olympic gold in athletics when she won the 10,000 metres in Athens with a time of 30:24.36. In 2003 Xing, then 19, finished seventh in the event at the World Track and Field Championships in Paris and her time of 30:31.55 remains a world junior record for the distance.

Xing is also a two-time Chinese national champion over 1,500 metres and is currently the reigning national champion over 5,000 metres.

Joining Xing on the Chinese team is world junior women’s 400-metre record holder Wang Xing. At the 2005 Chinese National Games she finished second in the event to world championship finalist Huang Xiaoxiao – who will also run the one-lap hurdles at the Jerome meet – but her time of 54.40 secoonds slashed three-tenths off the world junior mark of 54.70 held by American Lashinda Demus. Wang also defeated Huang at the 2005 Chinese national championships and was the 2002 Chinese high school champion.

Liu Qing is another powerhouse competitor. She closed out 2005 as the world’s top-ranked junior woman over 800 metres and finished No. 2 on the IAAF world junior women’s 1,500-metre rankings. Her 1:59.74 effort to win gold in the 800 metres at the October Chinese National Games was a personal best and world junior best for 2005.

On the men’s side, fans at Swangard may well get a view of the world’s next great 110-metre hurdler in Shi Dongpeng, ranked No. 2 in China behind 2004 Olympic champion and world record holder Liu Xiang. Shi was a silver medallist behind Liu at the 2005 Asian championships and runner-up again to Liu at the 2005 Chinese national Games. He was a silver medallist at the 2002 World Junior Track and Field Championships.

Middle distance runner Dou Zhaobo will also bear watching in the 1,500 metres on June 8. A silver medallist at the Asian Games, Dou is the Chinese record holder over 1,500 metres with a 3:36.49 best set in 1999.

On the field, look for a strong javelin effort from Li Rongxiang, Chinese record holder with a personal best 84.29 metres. He was also a gold medallist at the 2002 Asian Games and is a three-time Asian champion.

Athletics Canada recently released a partial list of Canadian competitors to the Jerome meet with the full slate to be confirmed shortly.

“The Canadian and Chinese teams are loaded with young athletes who will undoubtedly be at the Beijing Olympics in two years,” notes Dr. Doug Clement, president of the Achilles Track and Field Society, which organizes the annual meet. “When attempting to decide the winning the team, China and Canada are surprising close. Scoring is 5-3-2-1 in the individual events and 5-2 in the relays. I look for an exciting finish to the evening as I expect the four relay events will decide the winning team..”

Indeed, with Beijing playing host to the 2006 World Junior Track and Field Championships in August, the Chinese contingent to the Jerome meet is an interesting mix of veterans and rising stars looking to be at their best in Beijing later this year, and in 2008.

People’s Republic of China Team to the 2006 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic

Presenting the Pacific World Cup, 7 p.m., June 8 – Swangard Stadium, Burnaby

Men

Women

Team Officials
Team Leader: Mr. Feng Shuyong
Team Officials: Ms. Wang Nan
Ms. Xia Meng
Ms. Guo Shuang

Coaches
Mr. Lu Quanbin
Mr. Tang Linhua
Mr. Zhou Zhongge
Mr. Zhang Hong
Mr. Huang Danwei
Mr. Zhang Xianbin
Ms. Luo Bin
Ms. Jiang Lan

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