Olympic champion Liu Xiang shattered a world record held by Briton Colin Jackson as he clocked 12.88 seconds in the Lausanne Grand Prix on July 11. Chinanews, Beijing, Dec. 28 – Chinese athletes will have a hard time in the battle for gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Apart from Liu Xiang, it is very hard for Chinese athletes to win gold medals in other athletic events, said Feng Shuyong, vice director of the Athletics Administrative Center under the General Administration of Sport.
He made the remarks when summarizing the general situation of Chinese athletic sports in 2006.
He said that on the whole, Chinese athletic events still lag behind and the situation has not improved much in 2006. The current situation makes it hard for Chinese athletes to realize the goal set for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and athletes will have a hard time and a great task ahead.
Among all Chinese athletes, only Liu Xiang, Olympic champion for the 110-meter hurdle race, and Han Yucheng, a professional athlete in 20-km walking race, are graded as the world’s top athletes this year. Of these two, Han made the best performance only at home, not in international competitions. In addition, Zhou Chunxiu was listed as No.2 in world marathon ranking list. Apart from the three athletes, Chinese athletes did not enter into the top three in other athletic events in the world.
According to the information given by the Athletics Administrative Center, 16 Chinese athletes managed to enter into the top ten positions in eight world athletic events, with 3 in men’s events and 5 in women's. Thirty-one Chinese athletes managed to enter into the top 20 positions in 12 world athletic events, with 4 in men’s events and 8 in women’s. In 2006, Liu Xiang broke the world record in 110-meter hurdle race and Zhang Wenxiu broke the Asian record for women’s hammer. Although Zhang broke the Asian record for women’s hammer, she could only be ranked fifth in the world. In the other key athletics events, although Chinese athletes have made progress, still, few can win a medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In men’s high jump, two athletes made the 2.30-meter mark, a historic breakthrough. Yet their performances are not steady. In addition, some achievements have been made in women’s shot put and men’s triple jump. However, Chinese athletes’ performances in these two events can only be graded among the top ten in the world.