Liu Hong (; born 12 May 1987) is a Chinese female

race walker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Referee, Race judges careful ...

. She is the

world record holder In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

over the Olympic 20 km distance with a time of 1:24:38 hours, set in 2015. Liu has won multiple medals in the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

, including four gold medals in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2019 and a silver medal in 2009. She placed fourth at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in 2008 and was retrospectively upgraded to silver in 2012 Olympic 20 km racewalking. Liu is the 2016 Olympic 20 km racewalking gold medalist. Liu is a two-time gold medalist at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

, winning in 2006 and 2010. She was the runner-up at the

IAAF World Race Walking Cup The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. Women first entered the 1979 edition. ...

in 2014. In her early career, she was the World Junior Champion in 2006.

Career

She first came to prominence by winning the World Junior and

titles in 2006. After a poor global debut at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

(19th), she rebounded with a fourth-place finish at the

2008 Beijing Olympics 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 Nat ...

. However, since Russia's

Olga Kaniskina Olga Nikolayevna Kaniskina (russian: О́льга Никола́евна Кани́ськина; born January 19, 1985 in Napolnaya Tavla, Kochkurovsky District, Mordovian ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian coach and former race ...

was disqualified in March 2016 for doping, Liu is expected to be awarded the bronze medal. She secured her first major medal at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

, taking the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. Later that year she took the national title at the 11th Chinese National Games. Liu retained her title at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

and broke the Games record with a time of 1:30:06 hours. She opened her 2011 season with a win on the 2011 racewalking circuit at the Memorial Mario Albisetti. She followed this with a win in

Taicang Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The city located in the south of the Yangtze River estuary opposite Nantong, being bordered by Shanghai proper to the south, while the river also delineates ...

, equalling her personal best in the process. A third circuit win came in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

that year. She won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. Liu broke the Asian record for the 20 km walk in Taicang in 2012, defeating Wang Yan's decade-old record with a time of 1:25:46 hours. She placing third behind

Qieyang Shenjie Qieyang Shijie (; , Amdo Tibetan language: ɕʰeɣjaŋ ʂcəl born 11 November 1990), also known as Qieyang Shenjie or Choeyang Kyi; is a Chinese Racewalking, race walker. She was born in Haiyan County, Qinghai, Haiyan, Haibei Tibetan Autono ...

who also broke her Asian record, at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Liu won at the 2012 IAAF World Race Walking Challenge Final, however, and defeated Qieyang en route to breaking

Jin Bingjie Jin Bingjie (金冰洁 - ''Jīn Bīngjié;'' born 1 April 1971 in Liaoning) is a retired Chinese race walker. She won the bronze medal in the 5000 m walk at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics then took third a year later in ...

's 22-year-old Asian record for the 5000 m walk at the Chinese University Games. She set an event record in her first race of 2013, winning the Memorial Albisetti in a time of 1:27:06 hours. She broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for the 20 km walk at the Gran Premio Cantones de La Coruña. Taking advantage of warm conditions, she completed the distance in 1:24:38 hours, walking the second 10 km faster than the first, to improve the world record by 24 seconds. This was the fastest time ever, also beating

Olimpiada Ivanova Olimpiada Vladimirovna Ivanova (russian: Олимпиада Владимировна Иванова, born 26 August 1970) is a Russian race walker. Her first gold medal was won in the 2001 Edmonton World Championships, where she beat the rest ...

and

's times that were not ratified as records due to a lack of international judges. After testing positive for

higenamine Higenamine (norcoclaurine) is a chemical compound found in a variety of plants including ''Nandina domestica'' (fruit), ''Aconitum carmichaelii'' (root), ''Asarum heterotropioides'', '' Galium divaricatum'' (stem and vine), ''Annona squamosa'', ...

in May 2016, she was banned from 13 June to 13 July 2016. She won the gold medal with 1:28:35 in women's 20 km walk at Rio Olympic Games on 19 August 2016. After a year off competition to have a baby, in 2019 she became the first woman ever to finish the 50 kilometer walk in less than four hours, finishing in 3 hours, 59 minutes and 15 seconds at the Chinese Race Walk Grand Prix. Later that year, she won her third gold medal in the 20 km walk at the

2019 World Championships in Athletics The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

.China sweeps podium in women's 20 km race walk

Euronews Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective. The majority of Eurone ...

International competitions

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Hong 1987 births Living people People from Ji'an Athletes from Jiangxi Chinese female racewalkers Olympic athletes of China Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Doping cases in athletics World Athletics Championships athletes for China World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics record holders Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic bronze medalists for China Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Olympic female racewalkers World record holders in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners