Ezekiel Ngimba en route to his 10,000m victory at 'Good Luck Beijing' (© Getty Images)
Liu Xiang did not exactly fly in his first race in the Bird’s Nest Stadium here tonight but he did almost everything that was asked of him. China’s big hope for a gold medal at the Olympic Games in three months time gave a prolonged smile to spectators before going to his blocks, won his heat, and waved as he left.
A crowd of 22,000 sprinkled the 91,000 seat arena – officially the National Stadium but popularly known as the Bird’s Nest – for the first evening of the Olympic test meeting, the “Good Luck Beijing 2008 China Athletics Open”. And cheers accompanied every move that the 110m Hurdles World and Olympic champion made.
Eerily quiet for most of the meeting, the crowd burst into life when Liu warmed up over two flights, and again when he rehearsed over four. They did so once more – and louder - when he took off his vest to replace it with his red China singlet.
The athlete to Liu’s right, Chen Ming, from China, was kitted out in fluorescent pink shorts and vest but nobody was looking at him, least of all Liu. Ten clean flights and 13.63 seconds later the World record holder was through to the semi-finals.
In the background, Sichuan earthquake's aftermath looms large
Only the media in the mixed zone were left disappointed. Taking one last leap, over a safety barrier, Liu rushed away. However, he confirmed to official flash quotes reporters that he had donated money to the Wenchuan earthquake appeal. “One person’s power is limited,” Liu said. “But we can join hands to overcome the disaster.”
In the circumstances, and with the reported death toll up to 51,000 today, perhaps it was Liu Jing rather than Liu Xiang who should have been getting all the attention, along with her fellow 100m hurdler, Deng Ru. They were the two fastest qualifiers from the first round and are from Sichuan province, which was heavily hit by the 7.9 magnitude ‘quake on 12 May.
Deng clocked 13.38 and Liu Zing 13.41. On her training in Sichuan, Liu said: “Because of the earthquake we were terrified and we couldn’t get a good rest, so we just stayed in the training centre. The athletes want to do something for the earthquake, to work as volunteers and donate blood. But we are athletes and have other things to do.”
A team of 46 athletes from Sichuan is here and donation boxes have been set up at the National Stadium. On the day when the Olympic torch relay resumed in the ancient port city of Ningbo, Zhejiang, after three days of national mourning for victims, it wasn’t only the athletes from Sichuan who stuck to their task.
Judges and volunteers from Chengdu, in Sichuan province, have remained in post here. “My wife is a doctor and she is still working in the front line of the disaster,” Tan Jin, the chief official in charge of athlete check-in, said.
“But, here in Beijing, we are the representatives of the Sichuan people. Although the situation there still worries us a lot, we will exert ourselves to fulfil our tasks in this test event. At this moment, both the rescue work in Sichuan and the 2008 Olympics are our nation’s top priorities.”
Chief judge Liu Dianlong said that students and teachers from Chengdu Sports University were the only volunteers from outside Beijing who had received professional training to assist the judges.
“Apart from the 11 judges, 35 volunteers from Sichuan will also serve in the coming event,” Liu said. “Most of them have been more or less affected by the disaster. Some come from Dujiangyan, one of the most seriously hit areas. However, they are determined to make contributions to this event.”
The first session in the new stadium may not have resonated internationally but the track made an early impression on the Chinese athletes. A remarkable 14 personal bests were produced over two heats of the men’s 1500m and 10 were shattered in the women’s 1500.
Ngimba, Zhang take 10,000m wins
This four-day programme is the first fully fledged athletics meeting at the venue, although test events for the walks and marathon have been held here. The first track final was novel not only for its contribution on this historic day but for its eccentricity. Within the opening 800m of the 10,000m,Yang Dinghong had opened a lead of 40m. A member of the Chinese Army team, it proved a suicide mission as his lead lasted only to 3400m.
As Yang was overtaken, falling back to finish 12th, he gave way to a sight which will doubtless become familiar during the Olympics – Africans out front. Tanzanians Ezekiel Ngimba and Joseph Marco took up the running and, although home athlete Guojian Dong recovered ground to take the silver medal, Ngimba won in 28:30.23.
Victory in the women’s 10,000m went to18-year-old Zhang Yingying (31:38.35) while the 29-year-old World Championships marathon silver medallist, Zhou Chunxia, had to settle for fifth place (32:21.13).
David Powell for the IAAF
