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Chinese Women's Middle and Long Distance Runners to Race in Europe
China's middle and long distance women's runners left Beijing Wednesday to participate in upcoming track meets in France and Greece.
Five of the top runners of controversial coach Ma Junren will be participating in meets sponsored by the International Amateur Athletic Federation in Paris on Friday and in Athens next Wednesday.
Among the runners is Lan Lixin, who holds the world's second best time in the 1,500 meters this year of four minutes 03.95 seconds and a personal best of 3 The two have posted the fourth and fifth best times of the year in the 5,000 meters respectively.
The meet is expected to give the runners, all of whom are in their late teens or early 20s, badly needed international experience before this year's Sydney Olympics.
Coach Ma came under the international spotlight in 1993 when his runners Wang Junxia and Qu Yunxia set world records in the women's 1,500, 3,000 and 10,000 meter races that still stand today. Ma's runner Jiang Bo also holds the world record in the women's 5,000 meters set in 1997.
His women runners hold 12 of the top 17 best times ever run for the 1,500 metres, seven of the top 12 times ever run in the 5,000 metres and eight of the 17 best times ever run in the 10,000 metres with all the times either 1993 or 1997.
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