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Huang mourns the passing of China's triple jump success HELSINKI: After finishing ninth in women's triple jump at the World Championships here on Monday, China's top triple jumper, Huang Qiuyan, felt it was tough to bring back the good old days. As the only Chinese women's triple jumper to compete here, Huang tried hard to qualify for the final round. A jump of 14.21m saw her finish at ninth place and it is about half a metre shy of her personal best. Trecia Smith of Jamaica was crowned with a leap of 15.11m. "I do not set goals for myself. It is OK if I perform well. "I am optimistic about everything right now. The past is past and you never know what tomorrow will bring." That makes her remember the heyday for China, when the nation's top triple jumpers were among the world best from the late 1980s to early 90s. Li Huirong was among the world's best, setting the first world record at 14.54 in 1990 and then winning a silver medal at the third World Indoor Athletics Championships in Spain in 1991. She was also a winner at the 16th World University Games. Li's blazing trail was followed by Ren Ruiping. Ren took a bronze at 1995 World Indoor Athletics Championships and broke the junior world record. Five months later at the 5th World Championships, Ren finished sixth with 14.25m and then picked up a seventh finish at 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Ren's records are also the best that Chinese jumpers have ever set at Olympics and the Worlds. But when their foreign counterparts began to surpass the 15m mark from 1993, Chinese jumpers still struggled around 14.50m. Huang is one of a few Chinese who are able to jump over 14.50 and she set her personal best 14.72 during the 2001 National Games. She is pessimistic on China's future on the sport, especially knowing that there are no other athletes on the scene who are able to jump over 14.20. "Take a look at the world's (triple jumping) development. If China wishes to have a top eight finisher at the Beijing Olympics, we have to jump around 15m." said Huang. At the Athens Olympics last year, even the eighth ranked athlete jumped 14.79m, better than Huang's personal best. Having been involved in the sport since the age of ten, Huang won the national championships in 1997 and has rarely been challenged since in China and Asia. After setting the Asian and national record of 14.72m in 2001, Huang was expected to make breakthroughs in major international events. Apart from being the champion at the Rome Stop of the 2002 Gold League, however, Huang failed to bring home a medal at the Olympics or World Champions. "There are reasons every time that I fail. I have ups and downs of form due to too many competitions throughout the year. Sometimes, you even need luck in big tournaments," said Huang quietly. With the years' ups and downs, Huang said she is not as ambitious as she used to be, especially with persistent injuries. "I adjust my mind very well and I will not complain," said the Asian record holder. "All the pain interferes with my training throughout the year." Keeping on Regarded as Asia's top athlete and also the nation's sole hope in the sport, the 25-year-old said that she would stick with the sport until she can no longer compete. "As long as I have the strength, I will continue to jump. "Maybe one day, maybe tomorrow, I will find myself unable to continue, and then I will retire," said Huang, a Zhuang ethnic from China's Guangxi autonomous region. "I really hope that somebody will come out of the Chinese ranks and do better than I have done," Huang unselfishly added. (China Daily 08/10/2005 page16)
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