By Yu Yilei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-18 09:16

The Chinese triple jump record still stands: 17.34m.

Zou Zhenxian, the former Chinese triple jumper who set the mark in the 1981 World Cup in Rome to win a silver medal, should be proud of his record.

Instead, it has turned into a real headache. It worries him that he, a 53-year-old man, still holds the Chinese record when the current world record stands at nearly a meter longer, 18.29m, set by Briton Jonathan Edwards in 1995.

Since 1997, Zou has organized eight tournaments to give athletes in China a chance to surpass his mark, but no Chinese jumper has been successful so far. Chen Yanping came the closest in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games and even surpassed it by jumping 17.51m. But his jump was not recognized as the record because of excessive wind.

Zou will organize another round of triple jump challenges on May 9 at Guizhou University and will invite the nation's top eight jumpers to try to eclipse his mark, known as the "beard mark" due to its long history. He hopes his record falls before August's Beijing Olympics.

"Now I am not feeling comfortable with my record," Zou said. "I can't wait to see someone beat the record this time in Guizhou and leave me with a beautiful memory."

After several years of sub-par performances, which saw few jumpers even surpass the 17m mark, last year's tournament in Shandong saw the closest competition yet, as 20-year-old local Zhong Weimin jumped 17.27m to win.

The little-known athlete stunned a talented field, which included national and Asian champion Li Yanxi and world junior record holder Gu Junjie.

But only 7cm separated Zhong from the oldest track and field record in China's history.

Feng Shuyong, head coach of China's national athletics team said Zhong's performance last year touched everyone deeply.

"It makes them (the jumpers) realize that they all have the potential to beat the mark," he said. "The problem is not with their abilities but with their minds."

Unfortunately, Zhong's form has dropped dramatically since the end of last year and he now even struggles to reach 16m.

The biggest hope to break the record is Li, whose personal best is 17.15m. Gu, who once jumped 17.23m in 2004 during a national meet in Hefei, is another star on the radar.

"What I need is stability and a stronger body," said Li, who has battled injuries for the past few months.

The sponsor of Zou's tournament, Zhenhua Group, a domestic automobile company, has promised a big chunk of change to the record breaker. Even though Zhong failed to break the record last year, he still received a 112,000-yuan ($16,000) winner's check.

Olympic qualifier

There is extra incentive for Li and his fellow jumpers this time because the challenge tournament is one of the few opportunities for them to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

China is allowed to send three athletes to the event as long as all of them jump more than 17.10m within two years of the Games.

So far Gu, who jumped 17.11m in 2006, and Zhong have qualified, leaving everyone else to compete for the final spot.

"This year's tournament is special. It can decide our Olympic lineup," Feng said.

The May 22-25 Athletics International Invitational, an Olympic test event to be held in the National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest", will be the last chance for Chinese triple jumpers to grab the final Olympic ticket if they don't make it at the challenge tournament.

Zou's record, as well as high jumper Zhu Jianhua's 2.39m record set in 1983, are the two oldest records in Chinese athletics.

Zou's record would still be competitive these days as the best performance in 2008 is 17.42m, set by Cuban David Girat.

"If anyone is able to beat my record, it means he is very likely to enter the top eight in Olympic competition," Zou said.

The Shandong native, once a coach with the Chinese national team, promised the tournament would go on if the record is broken. He plans to turn the single-event tournament, which is currently only open to domestic athletes, into a multi-event international invitational.

"I hope I can give Chinese athletes a very good and precious tournament."