Chinese athletics can emerge from the shadow of recently retired Olympic champion Liu Xiang, the country’s top hurdler said Saturday, as the sporting superpower searches for new track and field heroes.
Xie Wenjun, who is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Athens 2004 110m hurdling champion Liu, said Chinese athletes had already proved their worth by dominating at the Asian Games — but they were now ready to take even greater accolades.
The 110m hurdler took gold at the Asian Games held in South Korea last October — and was one of a number of stars who shone even as the team’s overall gold medal tally dropped to 151 from 199 in 2010.
“The young generation in track and field in China can keep growing and they have achieved many breakthroughs,” 24-year-old said Xie said.
“A lot of Chinese athletes have climbed to the very top in Asia — particularly at the Asian Games — so you can expect to see that potential transform into success at more international events.”
Xie will be involved in a ceremony at Shanghai’s Diamond League meet to honour Liu, who is a close friend.
The retirement of the 31-year-old track and field pioneer last month sparked an outpouring of emotion from Chinese sports fans.
Liu — along with double Grand Slam winner Li Na and former NBA star Yao Ming — is considered one of China’s great sporting trailblazers.
But Xie, who won at the Diamond League in Shanghai last year, said more sporting greats were on the horizon, and tipped Chinese long jump hope Li Jinzhe.
Li was a class apart from his rivals in Incheon, the only athlete to clear eight metres and finishing a full 11 centimetres ahead of South Korea’s Kim Deok-Hyeon.
“I believe Li Jinzhe has the most potential to become the next icon of Chinese track and field,” Xie said.
“He is very likely to win an Olympic gold medal in Rio,” he added, referring to next year’s Games in Brazil.
Li, who also won in Shanghai last year, returned the compliment to Xie, saying that China’s next athletics star would come from the track.
“Runners are more recognisable and more likely to stir the excitement among the fans,” the 25-year-old said.