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China Aims at Breakthrough in Women's 400m Relay
China eyes at a breakthrough in the women's 400 meters relay by entering the event's final for its first time at the upcoming Olympic Games.
"Our girls are trying to earn a place in the women's 400m relay final and if they do they will make the history to become the first China's finalists at any Olympic sprint events," China's coach Zhang Rongwei told Xinhua on Thursday.
The Chinese women's team has participated in every Olympic Games since 1984 but never got a berth in the final of the relay. "Now we are ready to qualify for the final as long as we could perform our best level," Zhang said.
The four Chinese ran their fastest time of 42.63 seconds last month in Beijing, the result is well enough to enter the top eight at the Olympics.
"There is a standard for entering the final according to the rankings of world championships and Olympic Games in recent years, the team which can run within 43 seconds should have no problem to take a seat in the final," Zhang said.
"If our girls run as fast as last month they may vie for a better place than eighth," Zhang added.
Zhang rated China, Russia, Nigeria as the second group in the women's 400m relay behind the United States, Bahamas, Jamaica, Germany and France, saying the first group teams can run within 42.50 seconds which the Chinese runners are unable to do.
"However, We have potential to overbeat others. My team has worked for more than two months and has a very good handoff skills," Zhang said.
The Chinese team will be anchored by Li Xuemei, the first Asian woman to break the barrier of 11 seconds in the 100 meters race. Other runners are Liu Xiaomei, Ceng Xiujun and Qing Wangping, who can run the times between 11.20 - 11.30 seconds.
Li and Liu with two other teammates placed eight in the 1997 world championships, which is the best result ever in any world major tournaments.
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