Jamaica Olympic legend Donald Quarrie believes Chinese track and
field athletes have what it takes to dominate the Asian Games.
The 1976 Montreal Games gold medallist, who finished a training
camp in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province earlier this month, said
China was able to beat off challenges from Japanese counterparts
and keep the top spot in Asia during the Games, which closes on
December 15.
"I think there are a lot of great potentials in China," said
Quarrie. "I was impressed with the talent they have and effort they
paid over years.
"For sure they are gold prospects at the Asian Games and I think
they are able to dominate the track again ahead of their Asian
rivals."
China has sent a 52-member track and field squad to participate
in 37 events.
There are gold chances at the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, pole
vault, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer, javelin, marathon and
20m walking race.
Chinese sprinters have yet to make any headway in the world
alongside national treasure, Liu Xiang, who won the gold medal of
the 110m hurdle at the Athens Games.
Women's 400m sprinters Huang Xiaoxiao is the second best
performer in China as she finished the fifth place at the Helsinki
World Championships last year in Finland.
At the World Youth Champinships in Beijing in August, Liang
Jiahong was the only Chinese to make finals of sprinting events,
becoming the first Chinese man ever to reach a 100 metres final at
any World Championships or Olympic Games.
After two weeks staying with Chinese athletes of national team,
the sprint hero suggested the young sprinters needs more experience
at international stage.
"The talent is already here, they just need competitions," he
said. "The more events you participate in, the more chances you
have. So you have go out to experience all these stuffs and push
yourself to do some more moves by way of international
competitions."
Quarrie is regarded as one of the finest sprinters in the
history of track and field and also Jamaica's most accomplished
sprinters of all time. He won the Olympic gold in the 200 metres
and the silver in the 100 metres at the Montreal Games in 1976 and
led Jamaica's 4x100-metre relay team to a silver medal in the Los
Angeles Olympics.
At the Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1978, he collected a
total of six gold medals at 100m, 200m and 4x100m.
Quarrie had his first training class in China last November
after being selected by Jamaica's Sports Administration to deliver
lectures and help Chinese sprinters.
This program follows a commitment made by Jamaica's Prime
Minister PJ Patterson to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his
official visit to China in June 2005.
Wayne McCook, Jamaica's ambassador of China, said the sprinter
powerhouse aims to make it a long-term cooperation.
"We want to make the cooperation ever lasting," he said. "We are
considering to bring some more Chinese athletes to Jamaica and
train with our sprinters.
"We would like to see the overall level of Chinese athletics
improves and we are glad to help China find the second Liu Xiang on
the track."
(China Daily December 8, 2006)