Special report:
2008 Olympic
Games
WUHAN, Central China, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Liu Xiang
might be the hot-favorite to retain the men's 110 meters champion at the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games. But in the men's 100m, it looks certain that no Chinese
will be qualified to run there.
Runners must run at least 10.21 seconds to qualify
for the men's 100-meter, which has long been regarded as the most attractive
event in the track and field competitions in the Olympic Games.
The time is nothing for Tyson Gay, the world
champion, or Asafa Powell, who holds the world record of 9.74 seconds, but for
Zhang Peimeng and Wen Yongyi, China's top two sprinters, it is apparently
mission impossible.
Zhang and Wen won the gold and silver respectively in
the 100-meter final at the Chinese City Games here on Tuesday, with
disappointing results of 10.44 and 10.47 seconds.
"This is our last race this year. I just could not
run well. I was in terrible form," said Zhang sadly. Besides him was the
shrugging Wen.
The country has vowed to top the gold medal tally in
the Beijing Olympics. But for Zhang and Wen, it seems a miracle for them to
appear next summer in the track of the newly-built Chinese National Stadium,
better known as the Bird's Nest because of its innovative grid formation.
They are still trying to make the dream true, through
hard efforts during the imminent winter training.
"The winter training is important for us," Wen said.
"I believe our time can be improved gradually during the training. Hopefully we
can run under 10.21 seconds."
But Chinese fans, who can hardly remember when their
sprinters appeared in the Olympic Games last time, have no reason to keep
optimistic.
Zhang, who won the silver medal in the World
University Games in Bangkok last August with a time of 10.33, ran his personal
best time of 10.27 seconds in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix on September 28
when Gay finished second in 10.02.
Unfortunately, it was Shanghai, not Beijing. There
will be no wild card for host country's athletes in the Olympic Games.
