Wang Junxia

Wang Junxia ( Chinese  王军霞 , Pinyin Wáng Jūnxiá ; born January 19, 1973 in Jiaohe ) is a former Chinese long-distance runner and Olympic champion .

Her victory at the Junior World Championships in Seoul in 1992 in the 10,000 meter run was followed by an amazing series of successes.

After setting an Asian record with 2:24:07 h at the Chinese championships in the marathon in April , she won gold over 10,000 meters at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart . At the national championships on September 8, she improved the old world record over 10,000 meters by 42 seconds to 29: 31.78 minutes, which was a world record up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. A few days later, in the decisions over 3000 meters in the heats and in the final, a total of ten times below the old world record were run, the Wang in the run by ten seconds and in the final by a further six seconds to the still valid mark of 8:06, 11 min improved. Then she won the IAAF World Cup marathon , which was held as part of the San Sebastian Marathon , ahead of her compatriots Zhang Linli and Zhang Lirong .

In 1994 she won the Asian Games in Hiroshima over 10,000 meters and the Beijing Marathon , in 1995 she was Asian champion over 5000 and 10,000 meters.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , she won the 5000 meter gold medal in front of the Kenyan Pauline Konga and the Portuguese Roberta Brunet as well as a silver medal in the 10,000 meter run behind the Portuguese Fernanda Ribeiro and in front of the Ethiopian Gete Wami .

Then she ended her career in competitive sports. She studied at the University of Colorado and at the Chinese People's University , where she graduated in law in 2002 . In 2001 she married former soccer player Zhan Yu and gave birth to a child. She has a stake in Xuzhou City Junxia GYM , which manufactures fitness equipment.

In 2000, a shadow fell on the achievements of Chinese middle and long distance runners in the 1990s. Six female athletes trained by Ma Junren have been removed from the roster for the Sydney Olympics after suspicious blood tests . Wang Junxia was cared for by Ma until 1994, but then separated from him and accused him of embezzling athlete awards. For the 1996 Olympic Games, Wang was mentored by Mao Dezhen. It wasn't until 2016 that a letter from 1995 came to light in which Wang and other athletes accused Ma Junren of forcing them to doping .

In 2012 she was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame .

Personal bests

• 1500 m : 3: 51.92 min, September 11, 1993, Beijing
• 3000 m : 8: 06.11 min, September 13, 1993, Beijing (world record; as of January 2016)
• 5000 m : 14: 51.87 min, May 5, 1996, Nanjing
• 10,000 m : 29: 31.78 min, September 8, 1993, Beijing (world record; improved by Almaz Ayana on August 12, 2016)
• Marathon : 2:24:07 h, April 4, 1993, Tianjin

Web links

• Wang Junxia in the database of World Athletics (English)
• A run for the ages ( Memento from June 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), portrait in the Shanghai Daily , 2003

Footnotes

1. ↑ The Guardian : Hopes raised for war on drugs as Ma's army beats Olympic retreat . September 7, 2000
2. ^ The Guardian : Ma's army on the march again . July 24, 2001
3. ↑ Forced state-sponsored doping revealed by athletes who now risk loss of world records, titles and medals scmp.com February 5, 2016
4. ↑ Mas Methods, uncensored faz.net February 3, 2016