Chinese young guns starting to fire
By Sun Xiaochen (China Daily) Updated: 2015-08-26 07:26Blasts from the past
Zou Zhenxian
Sport: Triple jump
Born: Nov 10, 1955
Career highlights: His personal best jump was 17.34 meters, achieved at the 1981 World Cup in Rome. It was the oldest Chinese record until Li Yanxi broke it with a distance of 17.59m in 2009.
1978: Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, 2nd
1981: World Universiade in Bucharest, Romania, 1st
World Cup in Rome, Italy, 2nd
1982: Asian Games in New Delhi, India, 1st
1984: Olympic Games in Los Angeles, US, 4th
1986: Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea, 3rd
Zhu Jianhua
Sport: High jump
Born: May 29, 1963
Height: 1.93m
Weight: 70kg
Career highlights: In Helsinki in 1983, he became China's first man to win a medal at the IAAF World Championships. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he became the first male from the Chinese mainland to win an athletics medal at the Olympic Games. He is a two-time gold medalist at both the Asian Games and the Asian Athletics Championships. On June 11, 1983, Zhu jumped 2.37m, setting a world record. He went on to reach 2.38 and even 2.39m, the latter on June 10, 1984. The world record stood until Aug 11, 1985, when Rudolf Povarnitsyn beat it by one centimeter.
Chen Yueling
Sport: Race walk
Born: April 1, 1968
Height: 1.59m
Weight: 50kg
Career highlights: Chen became the first Chinese to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field after winning the 10km race walk at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In 1989 she won the Asian Championship in New Delhi, and took gold at the 1990 Asian Games.
Wang Junxia
Sport: Distance running
Born: Jan 19, 1973
Height: 1.62m
Weight: 50kg
Career highlights: In August, 1993, Wang claimed the world title in 10,000m (30:49.30) in Stuttgart, Germany, then went on to win the 3,000m and 10,000m at the Chinese National Games with three world records in three races. On Sept 8, she won the 10,000m final in a world record 29:31.78, which bettered the former record by 42 sec. In 1994, she became the first (an only) Asian to win the Jesse Owens Award.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Wang won the women's 5,000m (14:59.88) and took silver in the 10,000m (31:02.58).
Liu Xiang
Sport: 110m hurdles
Born: July 13, 1983
Height: 1.89m
Weight: 85kg
Career highlights: In 2001, he emerged on the world stage by winning the 110m hurdles at the Universiade in Beijing.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Liu won gold in 12.91 sec, which was China's first men's Olympic gold medal in a track and field event. In 2006 he set a world record in the men's 110m hurdles (12.88 sec) in a Super Grand Prix meet in Lausanne, Switzerland. After winning gold at the 2007 Osaka IAAF World Championships, Liu became a grand slam winner as an Olympic champion, world champion and world record holder.
