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| SMILE OF VICTORY: Bai Xue crosses the finish line to win the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on August 23, becoming the first Chinese marathoner to win a gold in the competition (LIAO YUJIE) |
Chinese athletes secured their country's third best-ever track and field results during the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin on August 23, coming home with a gold, a silver and two bronze medals.
China sent a comparatively small delegation of 32 athletes who competed in 15 events. The country sent 56 athletes to the 2007 championships in Osaka. Expectations ran rather low on the Chinese team, due mainly to the absence of the injury-plagued Liu Xiang, the 110-meter hurdles gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Liu has not competed since hobbling away from his heat during last year's Beijing Olympic Games. But the Chinese team, with half its members making their world debuts, came away with their confidence boosted in preparation for the London Olympics.
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| HOT SHOT: Chinese shot putter Gong Lijiao wins a bronze medal and recorded a personal best of 19.89 meters during the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin (LIAO YUJIE) |
Bai Xue, 20, was the first Chinese marathoner to win a gold in the world championships after crossing the line in 2:25:15, and became the youngest runner to win the world championship marathon title.
"It's my first worlds [World Champion-ships]. I didn't fear anyone and I had told myself that I'm young enough to go through losses," said the gold medalist.
Starting her career in the women's 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter race, Bai finally found her direction in Berlin after a surprise victory on the final day.
"I will compete in the 10,000-meter and marathon events in the future and my next goal is the (marathon) gold medal of the 2012 Olympics," she said.
China's other successes came from Wang Hao's second-place finish in the men's 20-km walk, Liu Hong's third place in the women's 20-km walk and Gong Lijiao's bronze in the women's shot put.
Wang, 20, won his silver with a personal best time of 1:19:06, becoming China's third male athlete to win a medal in the history of the World Championships. Since he missed winning the bronze by only five seconds at the Beijing Olympic Games, Wang trained harder and more systematically for Berlin. Wang hoped to shorten his personal best and finish in a better place in 2012.
"The Beijing Olympics were my first major race. I felt very nervous. But this year, I was very confident. My goal was to finish in the top three. The silver is really a bonus," Wang said.
The 22-year-old walker Liu Hong erupted for a season best 1:29:10 to grab the bronze in Berlin and is being seen as the successor to former stars Liu Hongyu, who won the gold at the 1999 Seville Worlds, and Wang Liping, the gold medal winner from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Liu Hong finished 19th in the 2007 World Championships and improved her personal best to place fourth with a time of 1:27:17 in the Beijing Olympics.
Twenty-year-old women's shot putter Gong, who finished fifth with a toss of 19.2 meters last year in Beijing, claimed a bronze in Berlin with a personal best of 19.89 meters. The young veteran has cast her eye toward a medal at the London Games and is hoping to toss a 20-meter personal best.
"We feel pretty happy that many young athletes made a deep impression in Berlin despite their worlds debut," said Feng Shuyong, Deputy Director of the China Athletics Administrative Center and the general coach of China's national team.
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