- Title: CHINA: MORE WORLD RECORDS SET IN CHINESE NATIONAL GAMES
- Date: 11th September 1993
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 11 & 13, 1993) SEPTEMBER 11 1. CLOSING STAGES OF RACE, QU YUNXIA BREAKS 1500 METRES WORLD RECORD 2. FANS CELEBRATE 3. QU RECEIVES MEDAL SEPTEMBER 13 4. 3,000 METRES FINAL IN PROGRESS 5. WANG JUNXIA BEATS HER OWN WORLD RECORD 6. WANG CELEBRATES 7. PRESENTATION OF GOLD MEDAL Initia
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- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
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- Country: ASIA China
- Reuters ID: LVA8VUSEYQFB8CKY4SFPUARGCJHD
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Chinese women continued their assault on distance running as world records were lowered three times at their national games in Beijing on September 11, 12 and 13.
On September 11, Qu Yunxia, the world champion over 3,000 metres, smashed the world 1,500 metres record. Her time of three minutes 50.46 seconds was two seconds inside the previous best of three minutes 52.47 seconds set in 1980 by Tatyana Kazankina, of the former Soviet Union.
Earlier in the week, teammate Wang Junxia had set a new world record in the 10,000 metres. Remarkably, she finished second in the 1500 metres behind Qu and was also inside the old record with a time of three minutes 51.92 seconds.
As in the world championships in Stuttgart, the Chinese runners appeared to run as a team, with the gold medallist there over 1500 metres, Lui Dong, setting a lightning fast pace of two minutes for the first 800 metres.
She faded, but Qu and Wang continued their record-breaking attempt, running shoulder to shoulder until Qu broke away on the final lap.
On September 12, Wang continued her record-breaking form in the 3,000 metres heats, knocking more than 10 seconds off the old mark. With a time of 8:12.19, Wang was first among five Chinese runners who all broke the old 3,000-metres world mark.
The following day, she then went on to win the final, lowering her own record by a further six seconds, clocking eight minutes 6.11 seconds.
It was her third world record in six days and the fourth for China's phenomenal women distance runners coached by Ma Junren.
The unprecedented success of the Chinese women distance runners has led to speculation they use performance-enhancing drugs. Ma and other Chinese officials have attributed the success to everything from a health tonic made from Chinese caterpillar fungus to a pre-race meal of stewed soft-shelled turtle to hard training at altitude.
But Chinese sports scientists have acknowledged that traditional herbal medicines are freely available without prescriptions and that there is sometimes a doubt whether they might include products included on the list of banned substances.
The Chinese runners burst on to the world scene last month at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, where Wang won the 10,000 and her teammates captured the 1,500 and 3,000 metre titles.
China hopes that an impressive performance by its athletes at the National Games will boost Beijing's bid for the 2000 Olympics, which will be awarded to one of five cities on September 23 in Monte Carlo.
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