Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

is one of the sports at the quadrennial

National Games of China The National Games of the People's Republic of China (), sometimes known as the All China Games (though not to be confused with the All-China Games), is the premier sports event in China at national level. It is usually held once every four yea ...

. Athletics competitions have been at every edition of the competition since its formation in 1910 as the Chinese National Games. The Games is the highest level athletics event for

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

athletes, ahead of the annual

Chinese Athletics Championships The Chinese Athletics Championships ( zh, 全国田径锦标赛) is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national championship for the People's Republic of China. It is organised by Chinese Athletic Association, China's nation ...

Records in 1993 and 1997

The competition has had an impact beyond national level through its record-breaking history, in particular by middle- and

long-distance Long distance or Long-distance may refer to: *Long-distance calling * Long-distance operator * Long-distance relationship * Long-distance train *Long-distance anchor pylon, see dead-end tower Footpaths * Long-distance trail *European long-d ...

athletes coached by Ma Junren. Known as "Ma's Army", he exercised strict control over his group of specially-selected rural

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

girls and applied tonics of turtle's blood and caterpillar fungus (

ophiocordyceps sinensis ''Ophiocordyceps sinensis'' (formerly known as ''Cordyceps sinensis''), known colloquially as caterpillar fungus, is an entomopathogenic fungus (a fungus that grows on insects) in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. It is mainly found in the mead ...

). At the 1993 National Games three

world records 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 ...

were broken by his athletes: Qu Yunxia ran 3:50.46 minutes for 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 Athle ...

while Wang Junxia ran 8:06.11 minutes for the 3000 metres and 29:31.78 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 ra ...

. All three records greatly exceeded the previous marks and all stood for over twenty years.McKay, Duncan (2000-09-07)
Hopes raised for war on drugs as Ma's army beats Olympic retreat
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Retrieved on 2013-03-29. Qu's mark was finally beaten by

Genzebe Dibaba Genzebe Dibaba Keneni ( Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold med ...

in 2015 and Wang's 10,000 m time was beaten by

Almaz Ayana Almaz Ayana Eba ( om, Almaaz Ayyanaa Eebbaa; am, አልማዝ አያና ኤባ, born 21 November 1991) is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze for the 5000 metres at the 2016 Rio Oly ...

in 2016. The 1993 Games also brought a slew of Asian records by women runners: 49.81 seconds for the 400 metres ( Ma Yuqin), 1:55.54 minutes for the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

( Liu Dong), 53.96 seconds for the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

( Han Qing), and 3:24.28 minutes for the

4×400 m relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

.Asian Continental Records
.

Asian Athletics Association The Asian Athletics Association is the continental governing body for the sport of athletics in Asia. It is headquartered in Singapore. It organises the Asian Championships in Athletics and other continental competitions. The current president Qa ...

(2011-05-19. Retrieved on 2013-03-29. Chinese national records were also broken by Zhang Yu (12.64 seconds for the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

and Ma Miaolan (6750 pts for the heptathlon). The performances in 1993 were seen as part of an exhibition of Chinese sporting prowess in light of Beijing's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, which was to be accepted or rejected by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

just days after the closure of the national games. The 1997 National Games brought further

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 eve ...

records for Chinese women. Dong Yanmei knocked five seconds off the 5000 metres world record in qualifying, only for Jiang Bo to take a further three seconds off that time to win the final. Li Xuemei ran Asian bests of 10.79 seconds for the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and 22.01 seconds for the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

Sichuan 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 ...

's 4×100 m relay (featuring Li) ran another Asian record of 42.23 seconds.

Xia Fengyuan Xia (Hsia in Wade–Giles) may refer to: Chinese history * Xia dynasty (c. 2070 – c. 1600 BC), the first orthodox dynasty in Chinese history * Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms) (407–431), a Xiongnu-led dynasty * Xia (617–621), a state founded by Dou J ...

and Sun Ripeng both set long-standing Chinese records in the 5000 m and the 3000 metres steeplechase that year. The depth of women's distance track performances in 1993 and 1997 is easily visible in the all-time lists which includes seven of the top ten times ever in the 1500 m, and eight of the top ten times in the 3000 m. Wang Junxia's 10,000 m record remained twenty seconds faster than any other woman, until it was beaten in 2016. It remains the second fastest time ever. Performances by Ma's athletes have left a tainted athletic legacy – although his women athletes broke new ground in distance running they were accompanied by accusations of doping, as none reached the same standard in events with anti-doping measures or international observers. Ma's career came to an end in 2000 when six of the seven athletes he was training for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

were banned after testing positive for erythropoietin (a blood-boosting agent). The

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

inducted world record holder Wang Junxia into its Hall of Fame in 2012, drawing condemnation from parts of the press internationally.Anderson, Jon (2012-03-14)
Why Wang Junxia's IAAF Hall Of Fame honour is farcical
''

The Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald Sun ...

''. Retrieved on 2013-03-29.

Editions

References

External links

Chinese Athletics Association
{{Athletics at multi-sport events Chinese National Games

Chinese National Games

Records in 1993 and 1997

Editions

See also

References

External links