China

China coaches race for 2012 Olympic positions

By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-19 09:04

China has started its build-up to the 2012 Olympic Games by interviewing track and field coaches over the past two days.

All candidates, including star hurdler Liu Xiang's coach, Sun Haiping, have had to compete for positions by making a speech to express their training concepts and then answer questions from a judging panel, which was formed by experts and officials from China's Athletics Administrative Center.

"The recruiting of coaches is one of the most important parts of preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games," said Feng Shuyong, vice-director of the administrative center, yesterday. "We always consider coaches as the key element of training and their ability will decide the development of the respective events. So, we hold these interviews to select the best coaches. It also offers a good platform for those coaches to communicate and learn from each other," Feng said.

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Coaching positions up for grabs this time include the men's 110m hurdles, men's walking, women's marathon, women's discus and women's hammer throw.

The successful coaches will be signed to the national squad until after the 2012 London Games and those contracts could be extended to the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Besides the speeches, Feng also said the results of the coaches' athletes in recent years was also an important criteria.

That would appear to indicate some coaches, such as Sun, He Youli, the coach of men's triple jump Asian record holder, Li Yanxi, and Zhang Fuxin, coach of women's 20km walk world bronze medalist Liu Hong, have distinct advantages.

However, what has drawn widespread media attention is the bid for a coaching position by Zhu Fengling, the wife of banned coach Wang Dexian.

Zhu, who works for China's Locomotive Sports Association, did not take part in the two-day coaching competition which concluded yesterday in Beijing but the head official of her association, Wang Zhongyi, said Zhu had made a speech to the selection committee before the tryouts. Zhu and the authorities have refused to confirm this.

Zhu's husband Wang was banned for life in 2005 for a second violation of the anti-doping policy, along with his star women long-distance runners. As early as 1995, Wang, the coach of 2004 Athens Olympic women's 10,000m gold medalist Xing Huina, was involved in a doping case with Zuo Qingmei.

Vice-director Feng said he would not make any comment on the Zhu issue and merely stated the administrative center would announce the results soon.

Zhu, who used to be a team doctor, is now the coach of reigning women's marathon world champion, Bai Xue. However, her coaching ability has been questioned by some media due to her relationship with Wang.

Local officials said she is capable of being a national team coach. "I think Zhu is qualified to be a national team coach as she majored in sports in university," said Wang Zhongyi. "Her husband has already left the team and is not working as a coach any more."