James Li (born ) is a Chinese-American athletics coach at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. His teams have won 12 national championships. He is known for his work with international runners, including from

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. Successful runners he has coached include

Stephen Sambu Stephen Sambu (born July 7, 1988, in Kenya) is a Kenyan long distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. College career Stephen Sambu ran for the University of Arizona, where he was coached by James Li, who is also Bernard Lagat ...

Lawi Lalang Lawi Lalang (born June 15, 1991) is a Kenyan-American runner. Personal life His elder brother Boaz Kiplagat Lalang is a middle distance runner, who specialises in the 5000 metres. Lalang was drafted into the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Progr ...

. and

Bernard Lagat Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner. Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya. Prior to his change of domicile to the US, Lagat had an extensive competitive career representing his ...

. Li has been at Arizona for 15 years as of 2018. Before that he spent 13 years at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

. As of 2021 Li has retired from his position as coach at Arizona. He is currently the Head Coach for E-House Marathon Club in Shanghai, China Li was born in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

Sichuan province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China. He was a middle-distance runner at the

Beijing Institute of Physical Education Beijing Sport University (BSU) (), formerly known as "Central Institute of Physical Education" () and "Beijing Institute of Physical Education" (), is a nation-level public university located in Beijing, China. It is one of the National Key Univ ...

, winning the Chinese Collegiate 800-meter title in 1979. After earning his bachelor's degree in 1982, Li began his coaching career at Sichuan Sports Technique Institute and was a provincial team coach for men's middle and distance runners in Sichuan Province from 1983 to 1985. Li moved to the United States and received a master's degree in biomechanics from

in 1987 and a doctorate in educational athletic administration in 1993. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998. At the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing, Li served as manager for the American men's track team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, James Living people Arizona Wildcats track and field coaches Washington State Cougars track and field coaches Chinese emigrants to the United States 1960s births Date of birth missing (living people) Chinese male middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Chengdu Washington State University alumni Runners from Sichuan