Liu Xiang might be the hot-favorite to retain the men's 110
meters champion at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. But in the men's
100m, it looks certain that no Chinese will be qualified to run
there.
Runners must run at least 10.21 seconds to qualify for the men's
100m, which has long been regarded as the most attractive event in
the track and field competitions in the Olympic Games.
The time is nothing for Tyson Gay, the world champion, or Asafa
Powell, who holds the world record of 9.74 seconds, but for Zhang
Peimeng and Wen Yongyi, China's top two sprinters, it is apparently
mission impossible.
Zhang and Wen won the gold and silver respectively in the 100m
final at the Chinese City Games in Wuhan, central China on Tuesday,
with disappointing results of 10.44 and 10.47 seconds.
"This is our last race this year. I just could not run well. I
was in terrible form," said Zhang sadly. Besides him was the
shrugging Wen.
The country has vowed to top the gold medal tally in the Beijing
Olympics. But for Zhang and Wen, it seems a miracle for them to
appear next summer in the track of the newly-built Chinese National
Stadium, better known as the Bird's Nest because of its innovative
grid formation.
They are still trying to make the dream true, through hard
efforts during the imminent winter training.
"The winter training is important for us," Wen said. "I believe
our time can be improved gradually during the training. Hopefully
we can run under 10.21 seconds."
But Chinese fans, who can hardly remember when their sprinters
appeared in the Olympic Games last time, have no reason to keep
optimistic.
Zhang, who won the silver medal in the World University Games in
Bangkok last August with a time of 10.33, ran his personal best
time of 10.27 seconds in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix on
September 28 when Gay finished second in 10.02.
Unfortunately, it was Shanghai, not Beijing. There will be no
wild card for host country's athletes in the Olympic Games.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2007)
