Mark Butler for IAAF
13 June 2000 - Gabriela Szabo, Gete Wami, Sonia O’Sullivan and Paula Radcliffe now have a much better idea about their Chinese rivals for Olympic medals following that country’s Olympic Trials meeting last week in Jinzhou. Ominously, it looks as if most, of not all of the women’s distance squad will comprise runners from the squad of the legendary coach Ma Junren.
China’s female distance runners have been feared since the incredible results at their National Games in September 1993. Chinese women, trained by Ma, hold sensational world records at 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m and dominate the all-time lists in those events. This form has not quite been reproduced at international championships, though the People’s Republic did win multiple golds at the 1993 World Championships and two World Junior Championships, in 1992 and 1998. Only one gold was won in Atlanta 1996, by the great Wang Junxia, now retired. The Chinese appear to be taking Sydney much more seriously.
"The Olympics have been in main Chinese newspaper ‘People’s Daily’ on a weekly basis," explains Finnish expert Mirko Jalava, who has closely followed the sport in China since 1993. "Before each competition there are many articles, even during week before normal National Grand Prix meets. The Chinese press is very tough on the athletes and many times articles have been negative. However, after the Olympic Trials they have been quite hopeful... "
Coverage has centred on "Ma’s Army" of runners from Liaoning province, who skipped the 1999 Chinese Championships but have competed more regularly in 2000 and dominated their races at Jinzhou. The first three finishers in the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m were all Ma-trained athletes. All achieved - or had already - the "A" Olympic entry standard and so are likely to be named for Sydney if they want to go to the games and if they remain injury-free.
Yet in yesterday’s edition of People’s Daily Ma said: "I am not totally satisfied with my runners’ performances in the trials, but we will work very hard for the next three months not to let the Chinese people down." When one considers that the trials performances included world-leading marks at both 1500m and 5000m, it’s clear that Ma has set an extremely high standard for his charges.
The Sydney probables in the women’s distance races are as follows:
1500 Metres
Lan Lixin (1st in Olympic Trials, 4:03.95) - 1998 World Junior 1500m Champion
with a pb of 3:53.97 (1997)
Li Jingnan (2nd, 4:05.33) - aged 17, the world’s fastest junior so far in
2000 with her pb of 4:05.33 Yin Lili (3rd, 4:07.25) - 1998 World Junior
Champion at both 3000m & 5000m; 1500m & 5000m pbs of 3:53.91 (1997) & 14:39.96
(1997)
5000 Metres
Dong Yanmei (1st, 15:03.99) - Held world 5000m record for two days in 1997;
5000m pb: 14:29.82 (1997, 2nd on world all-time list); 10,000 pb of 30:38.09
(1997)
Yin Lili (2nd, 15:06.30) - See above
Song Liqing (3rd, 15:18.62) - 5th in 1998 World Junior 1500m; 5000m
pb of 14:45.71 (1998); 10,000m pb of 31:11.26 (1997)
10,000 Metres
Li Ji (1st, 32:22.90) - 10,000m pb of 32:14.97 (2000)
Dong Yanmei (2nd, 32:23.21) - See above
Song Liqing (3rd, 32:38.90) - See above
