Xing Huina (; born February 25, 1984, in Hanting,

Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to the L ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

) is a former Chinese

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

. In a relatively short elite career that effectively ended before the age of 25, her most significant achievement was to win a shock gold in the 2004 Olympic Games in the women's 10,000 m at the age of just 20. Narrowly missing the podium twice in the 2005 World Championships in the following year, the lifetime ban for her coach Wang Dexian for doping his athletes in 2006, and recurrent injuries, derailed her following years. A move to marathon running failed to revitalise her career, and Xing effectively retired in 2009.

Biography

Xing was born to family of farmers in Hanting,

. Standing 1.66 m tall and weighing 50 kg (110 lb), she began training at Weifang City Sport School, coached by Chi Yuzhai. She joined the Shandong Sport Technology Institute in 1999, coached by Yin Yanqin. She was selected into national team in 2002 after running 4:10.43 in 1500 m and 14:56.15 in 5000 m in 2001 Chinese National Games. In national team, she was coached by Wang Dexian. In 2002, she won bronze medal in 10,000 m in Busan Asian Games with 31:42.36. She was the first Asian athlete to be crowned the Olympic champion in this competition. In 2003, she came in 7th and broke the World Junior Record (30:31.55) in the memorable race of 10,000m at Saint-Denis

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. The record was broken by

Linet Masai Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (born 5 December 1989) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. She won her first world title in the 10,000 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. ...

of Kenya at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Xing won the gold medal in the

10,000 m 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 ...

race in the track and field competition at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

with 30:24.36. She overtook Ethiopian Ejagayehu Dibaba in the final straight to break the monopoly of Ethiopians, becoming the first Asian to ever have won an Olympic gold medal in women's 10,000 metres. In the 2005 World Championships in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, she placed 5th in women's 5000 m (14:43.64) and 4th in women's 10,000 m (30:27.18). Both races were won by Ethiopian runners. She decided not to compete at the 2009 National Games of China in 2009 due to a persistent leg injury. The combination of the injury and her long period away from competition raised speculation that her professional career was finished at the age of 26.

Personal bests

*1500 m: 4:09.01 (2003) *5000 m: 14:43.64 (2005) *10,000 m: 30:24.36 (2004) Her unofficial 1500 m personal best is 4:03.00, which was set at the 2005 National Games of China. However, the result was nullified because her opponent, Liu Qing filed a complaint of being deliberately blocked by Xing when Liu tried overtaking Xing.Jalava, Mirko (2005-10-19)
Xing Huina disqualified in the 1500m, teenager claims men's 20km Walk - Chinese National Games Day 3 report
IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-08-17.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Xing, Huina 1984 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Chinese female long-distance runners Olympic athletes for China Olympic gold medalists for China People from Weifang Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Runners from Shandong Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games