Liu Xiang to lead Chinese athletics' gold charge in London
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Shanghai Daily, July 27, 2011
China topped the medal tally of Beijing Olympic Games with 51 gold medals, but none of the golds came from the track and field. With a healthy Liu Xiang steadily rebounding after injuries, China's athletics is set to launch another charge for golds in London.
Since female walk-racer Chen Yueling claimed China's first athletics Olympic gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, Chinese athletes had grabbed five track and field golds in four straight Olympic Games. However, with Liu's sudden withdrawal following a foot injury, the host country only finished with two bronze in Beijing.
The 28-year-old Liu, flag-bearer of the country's athletics, has fully recovered from injuries and the Athens Olympic champion is ready to repeat his gold-winning feet in London.
After beating American David Oliver to claim the title in the Shanghai Diamond League this May with a winning time of 13.07 seconds, Liu revealed he will not be satisfied with only a medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
"I think I can run inside 13 seconds this year. After today's victory, I am more confident," he said. "If I am lucky, I think I can win a medal in London. But I will not be satisfied with only a medal."
However, it will not be easy for Liu, who is still striving to return to his peak form, to fulfil his ambition in London, as the other two big names of 110-meter hurdling, Oliver and Dayron Robles, both pose great threat to him.
Oliver had a monumental 2010 season in which he won all 15 of his finals, lowered the four-year-old American record belonging to Dominic Arnold by 1/100 second to 12.89, and clinched the Diamond Race title. Although his unbeaten run of 18 matches was snapped by Liu in Shanghai, Oliver tasted sweet redemption as he clocked a world leading time of 12.94 at the Prefontaine Classic meeting in Eugene in June to edge Liu, who finished in 13.00 seconds.
Meanwhile, Cuba's Robles, who is hold a world record of 12.87, has also recovered from a leg injury which kept him out for 10 months. The Cuban clocked a personal season best time of 13.07 to show his competitiveness after a long absence.
Compared with the other two arch-rivals, Liu has his own advantage as the world champion, who previously held the world record of 12.88 seconds, adopted to a new technique of approaching the first hurdle with seven steps instead of eight this season, which proved effective in his recent races.
The priority for Liu ahead of the London Games is to make good use of the one year time left to smooth his new technique and meanwhile keep away from further injuries.
Apart from the star hurdler Liu, China's walk-racers, especially those majoring in the men's 20 km, are also among the favorites to fight for a gold in London. Chinese walk-racing witnessed big progress after Wang Hao finished fourth in the men's 20 km racing in the Beijing Olympic Games.
The raising star Wang Zhen, who will turn 20 in August, showed a solid performance in the men's 20km event. The teenager claimed a series of titles this season, including the test event for London Games in May and set a season leading time of one hour, 18 minutes, 36 seconds at the 9th Memorial Mario Albisetti in March.
Wang Zhen's teammates Chu Yafei and Chen Ding also achieved fast progress as the the trio have swept the top five world leading times in 2011.
And do not forget the 22-year-old Wang Hao. Although suffering a muscle injury in the leg after the 2010 Asian Games, he kept impressing the world with his continuously improved personal bests. After winning the silver in Beilin Worlds in 2009, the 1.80-meter walker, majoring in 20 km race, claimed the title of IAAF World Race Walking Cup in 2010 and went on to win the gold medal in 2010 Asian Games.
A reason of China's fast progress in race walking is the Italian walking guru Sandro Damilano who is now playing an important part in the Chinese race walking coaching team.
Damilano is a successful coach with his students having collected 46 Olympic, world and European medals. The Chinese Athletics Association hired him to polish techniques for the Chinese walkers, and the Italian has done quite a good job so far.
When Damilano chose to train Zhen Wang two years ago, he was not considered among the best walkers in China.
"I am very happy with the progress of the athletes. They have showed their ability. Wang Zhen, for example is one of the best in the world in terms of technique," said Damilano.
"China is much stronger now because there are four or five Chinese walkers with potential to win in Daegu. The problem is not to improve the time, but to maintain the conditions."
Damilano's opinion was also shared by Chinese athletics head coach Feng Shuyong, who expressed his concern about the athletes' ability to maintain their shape.
"Chinese walkers have showed a strong performance recently. But we should not be over-optimistic, as instability has been a haunting problem that often bothered Chinese athletes in international tournaments," said a prudent Feng.
Meanwhile, China is also competitive in events like the men's 50 km walk, women's marathon, 20km walk, shot put and discus throw, in each of which China is capable of a podium finish in London.
