Wei Li (; born 29 June 1972) is a Chinese former

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

. She was a medallist at the

1994 IAAF World Cup The 7th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 9–11, 1994, at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, Engl ...

and the

1997 East Asian Games The 2nd East Asian Games were held in Busan, South Korea from May 10 to May 19, 1997. Originally, the second edition of the East Asian Games was to be held in Pyongyang, North Korea, in September 1995. However, North Korea dropped the games due ...

. She represented China at the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, the

1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 19 ...

and the

1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on 23 March 1997. The races were held at the Parco del Valentino in Torino, Italy. A report of the event was given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAAF. Compl ...

. She was twice a Chinese national champion.

Career

Wei first came to prominence at nation level with a

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

win at the Chinese Athletics Championships in 1992. She achieved a personal best of 31.28.83 minutes for the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

at the

1993 Chinese National Games File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The White House (Moscow), Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Cze ...

and even though this only ranked her seventh in the race,Wei Li

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2016-04-22. such was the quality she placed ninth on the global rankings that year (the winner

Wang Junxia Wang Junxia (; born January 19, 1973) is a Chinese former long-distance runner who is the current world record holder at 3,000 meters. She also held the world record for the 10,000 meters for 23 years, between 1993 and 2016. Her best years lay ...

broke the world record). She won her second national title at the 1993 Chinese Championships, taking the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. At the start of the 1994 season she was runner-up at the

Chiba International Cross Country The Chiba International Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in Chiba, Japan in mid-February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Champio ...

and won her leg of the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden. She won the only global medal of her career at the

that September, taking the 10,000 m bronze behind

Elana Meyer Elana Meyer, OIS, (born 10 October 1966) is a South African long-distance runner who won the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the 10,000 metres event. Meyer set the 15 kilometres road running African record of 46:57 minutes in Nov ...

and

Fernanda Ribeiro Maria Fernanda Moreira Ribeiro, GCIH (; born 23 June 1969), is a long-distance runner born in Penafiel, Portugal. The pinnacle of her career was at the 1996 Summer Olympics when she won the women's 10000 m gold medal, establishing a new Olympic ...

. In 1995 she came third in the 10,000 m at the national championships and came in second place at the Sanyo Women's Road Race and her leg of the Chiba International Ekiden. After taking second in the 5000 m and fourth in the 10,000 m at the 1996 Chinese Championships, she was selected for

China at the 1996 Summer Olympics The People's Republic of China competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 294 competitors, 111 men and 183 women, took part in 155 events in 25 sports. Medalists Archery The People's Republic of China sent three men and ...

. Her compatriot Wang Junxia went on to win the title but Wei failed to reach the final round. Three international appearances came for Wei in the 1997 season. Beginning with the

, she placed 41st to lead the Chinese women's team to 13th place. After a successful tour of Japan, winning at the

Osaka Grand Prix The Golden Grand Prix Osaka is an international athletics competition in Osaka, Japan, held in May at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai, since 2018 under its current name. From 1996 to 2010 the event was known as the ''Osaka Grand Prix''. Formerly part o ...

, Shizuoka International Meet and

Oda Memorial is one of the international athletic games, which takes place every April at Hiroshima Big Arch stadium in Hiroshima, Japan. In 1967, this game began to commemorate the feat of Mikio Oda, a native of Hiroshima and the first Japanese Olympic gold ...

, she became China's choice for the East Asian Games – she was a silver medallist in the 5000 m, having narrowly lost to

Harumi Hiroyama Harumi Hiroyama ( ja, 弘山晴美; born 2 September 1968 in Naruto, Tokushima) is a Japanese long-distance runner. In her early career she specialized in the 1500 and 3000 metres, but gradually she shifted to the 5000 metres, 10,000 metres an ...

.East Asian Games
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-04-22. In her last major outing, she placed ninth in the 5000 m final at the

.Li Wei
IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-04-22. She failed to perform well at the 1997 Chinese National Games and shortly after made her debut over the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

distance, taking ninth at the Dalian Marathon with a time of 2:45:49 hours. In her last outing for China, she was seventh on her leg of the Chiba Ekiden. Her last high national placing was third in the 5000 m at the 1999 Chinese Championships. She retired in early 2000, at the age of 27.

International competitions

National titles

* Chinese Athletics Championships **1500 m: 1993 **5000 m: 1992

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Li Living people 1972 births Chinese female long-distance runners Olympic athletes for China Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for China Chinese Athletics Championships winners