OLYMPICS/ Team china
Zhou banks on tough training plan for gold
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-31 19:20
OSAKA - China's Zhou Chunxiu is hoping her intimidating training programme and increased experience will help her win her first global title in Sunday's world championship marathon.
Zhou's impressive victory at the London marathon in her first race outside Asia in April has made her the favourite to master the Osaka heat and claim gold for her country.
"At the last world championships I finished fifth but I was inexperienced and that was a couple of years ago," the 28-year-old told a news conference on Friday.
"Now I'm more prepared and better experienced ... I'm my biggest rival here."
Zhou took just 10 days off after her London win before resuming her gruelling training regime, in which she runs 200 to 300 kilometres a week.
Four weeks ago, she moved from her base in Dalian to the mountains of Qinghai to train at altitude and is confident she can cope with the searing heat of Osaka.
"The weather is the same for everyone," she said. "More important is the mindset and mental preparation for the race."
"I don't think that much, I just train as well as I can and if I can train well I can perform well," Zhou added.
Zhou, who was born in Jiangsu province, started running middle distance races as a teenager before moving to the marathon just five years ago in 2002.
"I didn't know that I'd be good at it when I started but the coach thought I had talent," she said.
In 2005 Zhou became the first women to run four sub 2:30 marathons in one year.
Last year, she ran a personal best time of 2:19.51 to win a third straight Seoul International Marathon, joining the elite group of women who have run a marathon in under 2:20 minutes.
She also won the Asian Games title in Doha last December.
With less than a year until the Beijing Olympics and Chinese medals thin on the ground in Osaka, success could bring Zhou a similar profile to 110m hurdles Olympic champion Liu Xiang -- and the corresponding pressure to win gold next year.
"Liu Xiang's success is a motivation for all the track and field team to improve their performances," she said.
"But I'm not at the same level as Liu Xiang, I don't have this crown. The title expectation is from outsiders so for me myself I don't think that much about it."
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