Blasts from the past

Zou Zhenxian

Sport: Triple jump

Born: Nov 10, 1955

Career highlights: His personal best jump was 17.34 meters, achieved at the 1981 World Cup in Rome. It was the oldest Chinese record until Li Yanxi broke it with a distance of 17.59m in 2009.

1978: Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, 2nd

1981: World Universiade in Bucharest, Romania, 1st

World Cup in Rome, Italy, 2nd

1982: Asian Games in New Delhi, India, 1st

1984: Olympic Games in Los Angeles, US, 4th

1986: Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea, 3rd

Zhu Jianhua

Sport: High jump

Born: May 29, 1963

Height: 1.93m

Weight: 70kg

Career highlights: In Helsinki in 1983, he became China's first man to win a medal at the IAAF World Championships. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he became the first male from the Chinese mainland to win an athletics medal at the Olympic Games. He is a two-time gold medalist at both the Asian Games and the Asian Athletics Championships. On June 11, 1983, Zhu jumped 2.37m, setting a world record. He went on to reach 2.38 and even 2.39m, the latter on June 10, 1984. The world record stood until Aug 11, 1985, when Rudolf Povarnitsyn beat it by one centimeter.

Chen Yueling

Sport: Race walk

Born: April 1, 1968

Height: 1.59m

Weight: 50kg

Career highlights: Chen became the first Chinese to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field after winning the 10km race walk at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In 1989 she won the Asian Championship in New Delhi, and took gold at the 1990 Asian Games.

Wang Junxia

Sport: Distance running

Born: Jan 19, 1973

Height: 1.62m

Weight: 50kg

Career highlights: In August, 1993, Wang claimed the world title in 10,000m (30:49.30) in Stuttgart, Germany, then went on to win the 3,000m and 10,000m at the Chinese National Games with three world records in three races. On Sept 8, she won the 10,000m final in a world record 29:31.78, which bettered the former record by 42 sec. In 1994, she became the first (an only) Asian to win the Jesse Owens Award.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Wang won the women's 5,000m (14:59.88) and took silver in the 10,000m (31:02.58).

Liu Xiang

Sport: 110m hurdles

Born: July 13, 1983

Height: 1.89m

Weight: 85kg

Career highlights: In 2001, he emerged on the world stage by winning the 110m hurdles at the Universiade in Beijing.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Liu won gold in 12.91 sec, which was China's first men's Olympic gold medal in a track and field event. In 2006 he set a world record in the men's 110m hurdles (12.88 sec) in a Super Grand Prix meet in Lausanne, Switzerland. After winning gold at the 2007 Osaka IAAF World Championships, Liu became a grand slam winner as an Olympic champion, world champion and world record holder.