Whatever Happened to Junxia Wang?

I have heard that there are no videos of said WR and some have hypothesized she actually ran 24 laps instead of 25.

i heard she took so many steroids she turned into a man and is now the star trapeiz act at barnamen bailey.

Oh yeah it gets worse...one of her name\'s is wang.

get it, wang...you know like a penis...

I thought I remembered reading something more recently (within the past year?), but here's an old article from Google.

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/965/class000100006/hwz148624.htm

1 - (Wang's 29:31.78)/(30:01.09) = 1.627% faster than next best performer

1 - (30:01.09)/(30:17.49) = 0.903% faster than 10th best performer

1.627/.903 = 1.802

1 - (Radcliff's 2:15:25)/(2:18:47) = 2.436% faster than next best performer

1 - (2:18:47)/(2:20:43) = 1.374% faster than 10th best performer

2.436/1.374 = 1.773

Even after accounting for the fact that times in the marathon are more spread out than in the 10k, Wang's personal best is only slightly more out there than Radcliff's personal best. I don't think anybody doubts that Wang's time was in some way illegal, so why hasn't Radcliff's time received similar questioning?

Radclifee is white and from England, there is no question about her you see.

She won Worlds in Spain that summer (1993) in 30: minutes and change in heavy heat and humidity so she was likely close to that fitness level. Maybe not clean though.

My guess is that nobody questions Radcliffe's performance becasue a lot of people actually watched her do it, it didn't happen at some no name meet in China(which also produced the #7 All-time womens 10k), she did it in the London Marathon... slightly different situation. Plus she has been running well since then. Junxia had one good season, set the WR by 30 seconds, where has she been since then?

If one looks at the article, one finds she was only 17 when she set the WR. (Do some math, on the 10-year anniversary she is 27). That fact alone, that she came from nowhere, and at the age of 17 for crying out loud, set a WR that hasn\'t really been touched since.

Within a few days of that 10 WR (where the second 5k was ran in 14-28 i.e. under 29 minute pace), Wang ran 8-12 for 3k and then 8-06 for 3k the next day and then a 1500m in 3-52 a day after that.

you and me and everyone else wrote:

Even after accounting for the fact that times in the marathon are more spread out than in the 10k, Wang's personal best is only slightly more out there than Radcliff's personal best. I don't think anybody doubts that Wang's time was in some way illegal, so why hasn't Radcliff's time received similar questioning?

Because wang never even approached her personal best again. certainly not under drug testing done by non-chinese.

Apparently she was enrolled at CU or CSU at one point, or so they said here on letsrun....there was an article linked at one point...

RFXCrunner wrote:

My guess is that nobody questions Radcliffe's performance becasue a lot of people actually watched her do it, it didn't happen at some no name meet in China(which also produced the #7 All-time womens 10k), she did it in the London Marathon... slightly different situation. Plus she has been running well since then. Junxia had one good season, set the WR by 30 seconds, where has she been since then?

Who watched Radcliff run the time? I sure didn't.

Wang's 10k was the China National Championships. One-quarter of the world's population lives in China, so that's a lot of people. Many more than live in England or France.

Wang Junxia had several good seasons, including wins at the World Championships. She retired then later made a come back on her own, getting Gold and Silver at the Atlanta Olympic Games. What is Radcliff's best placing at Olympics?

Wang ran 3:51 for the 1500 meters. What is Radcliff's fastest 1500 meters, when she didn't fall down that is? Also Radcliff trained with an altitude tent, that now is banned. Not so clean is she.

Wang Junxia trained hard that's for sure, and didn't need any pills, tents or doctors to do it. I don't know of any runner who has trained faster, longer, run more hills and run faster in competitions than has Wang. To me that makes her the fastest and most outstanding all round woman's runner we have seen. There might not ever be another woman runner who is as good as was Wang Junxia. As far as I am concerned, Wang Junxia's times are legitimate.

Ray charles?

the reason why her and her countrywomen ran so fast is cause there coach would actually beat them in practice if they didnt push to their limit. i rmember distinctly he would whip them.

not joking.

J. R. wrote:

Wang Junxia trained hard that's for sure, and didn't need any pills, tents or doctors to do it.

Are you kidding me? Did you read the other threads posted, such as:

The Burning Smell of My Stool wrote:

Wang ran for Ma Junren. Ma's runners, known as 'Ma's Army', were given weird concoctions of turtle soup, worm fungus, and gerbil semen. No doubt a good mix of EPO in there as well. 6 of his athletes were kicked off the Chinese Olympic team in 2000 for questionable blood tests...

Ma Junren was forced out of coaching in disgrace because of his unethical 'medical' practices towards his athletes. Sure, Wang was the best woman distance runner ever, but to say she was clean at her peak is naive.

All of you are wrong. Wang's time was run unassisted in an all female race while Ratcliff had male pacers. That's the discrepancy, not drugs.

Jivvber wrote:

Apparently she was enrolled at CU or CSU at one point, or so they said here on letsrun....there was an article linked at one point...

She was at Colorado. This is mentioned in the link I provided above. It also mentions a book called "Inside Stories of Ma's Army" by Zhao Yu. Couldn't find this on Amazon, so I did an interlibrary loan through my library. We'll see if it exists (and is in English!).

Wang never failed a drug test, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't just Wang who ran outlandishly fast at that meet, there were a bunch of others including athletes who didn't run for Ma. They ran huge PR's and never approached them again. I don't think drugs can explain such widespread flash-in-the-pan performances. However, a short track does.

Imagine this, you're a corrupt chinese government bureaucrat ordered to build a fast track and stay within a certain budget. You consult with your corrupt head engineer and decide that if you build a 393 meter track instead of a 400 meter track not only will you have a fast track, but you can now afford that Mercedes you've been eyeing. Now a 30:01 10k has become a 29:30, an 8:15 3k (still a WR) is now an 8:06, and a 3:55 1500m is a 3:51.

They remeasure bars for the HJ and PV, and measure jumps and throws multiple times for record consideration, why don't they verify track measurements?

Top 50 all-time at the end of 1993

1 29:31.78 Wang Junxia CHN 09.01.73 1 Beijing 08.09.1993

2 30:13.37 Zhong Huandi CHN 28.06.67 2 Beijing 08.09.1993

3 30:13.74 Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 21.03.56 1 Oslo 05.07.1986

4 30:23.25 Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 21.03.56 1 Stuttgart 30.08.1986

5 30:57.07 Elizabeth McColgan GBR 24.05.64 1 Hengelo 25.06.1991

6 30:57.21 Olga Bondarenko RUS 02.06.60 2 Stuttgart 30.08.1986

7 30:59.42 Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 21.03.56 1 Oslo 27.07.1985

8 31:03.62 Kathrin Weßel GER 14.08.67 1 Frankfurt 30.06.1991

9 31:05.21 Olga Bondarenko RUS 02.06.60 1 Seoul 30.09.1988

10 31:06.02 Derartu Tulu ETH 21.03.72 1 Barcelona 07.08.1992

11 31:06.99 Elizabeth McColgan GBR 24.05.64 1 Oslo 02.07.1988

12 31:07.88 Jill Hunter GBR 14.10.66 2 Frankfurt 30.06.1991

13 31:08.42 Wang Junxia CHN 09.01.73 1 Jinan 02.06.1993

14 31:08.44 Elizabeth McColgan GBR 24.05.64 2 Seoul 30.09.1988

15 31:09.25 Zhang Lirong CHN 03.03.73 3 Beijing 08.09.1993

16 31:09.40 Yelena Vyazova UKR 18.04.60 2 Roma 04.09.1987

17 31:10.46 Ma Liyan CHN 03.11.68 4 Beijing 08.09.1993

18 31:11.34 Kathrin Weßel GER 14.08.67 3 Roma 04.09.1987

19 31:11.72 Lisa Ondieki AUS 12.05.60 1 Helsinki 30.06.1992

20 31:11.75 Elana Meyer RSA 10.10.66 2 Barcelona 07.08.1992

21 31:12.55 Zhong Huandi CHN 28.06.67 2 Stuttgart 21.08.1993

22 31:13.78 Olga Bondarenko RUS 02.06.60 1 Kiev 24.06.1984

23 31:14.31 Elizabeth McColgan GBR 24.05.64 1 Tokyo 30.08.1991

24 31:15.00 Galina Zakharova RUS 07.09.56 2 Kiev 24.06.1984

25 31:15.38 Sally Barsosio KEN 21.03.78 3 Stuttgart 21.08.1993

26 31:15.66 Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 21.03.56 1 Oslo 04.07.1987

27 31:16.28 Zhang Linli CHN 06.03.73 5 Beijing 08.09.1993

28 31:16.42 Maria Conceição Ferreira POR 13.03.62 2 Helsinki 30.06.1992

29 31:18.18 Viorica Ghican ROM 09.06.65 1 Helsinki 27.06.1990

30 31:18.38 Olga Bondarenko RUS 02.06.60 4 Roma 04.09.1987

31 31:19.76 Ulrike Bruns GDR 17.11.53 3 Stuttgart 30.08.1986

32 31:19.82 Elizabeth McColgan GBR 24.05.64 5 Roma 04.09.1987

33 31:19.82 Yelena Vyazova UKR 18.04.60 3 Seoul 30.09.1988

34 31:19.89 Lynn Jennings USA 01.07.60 3 Barcelona 07.08.1992

35 31:20.28 Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 21.03.56 1 Hechtel 10.08.1991

36 31:20.62 Kathrin Weßel GER 14.08.67 1 Jena 28.05.1992

37 31:21.08 Zhong Huandi CHN 28.06.67 4 Barcelona 07.08.1992

38 31:21.20 Tegla Loroupe KEN 09.05.73 1 Warstein 06.07.1993

39 31:21.36 Uta Pippig GER 07.09.65 2 Jena 28.05.1992

40 31:23.92 Liu Jingying CHN 19.11.71 6 Beijing 08.09.1993

41 31:25.18 Olga Bondarenko RUS 02.06.60 1 Moskva 09.06.1985

42 31:26.11 Elizabeth McColgan GBR 24.05.64 5 Barcelona 07.08.1992

43 31:26.79 Kathrin Weßel GER 14.08.67 1 Potsdam 08.06.1988

44 31:27.00 Wang Xiuting CHN 16.02.65 1 Guangzhou 29.11.1987

45 31:27.58 Raisa Sadreydinova RUS 09.05.50 1 Odessa 07.09.1983

46 31:27.99 Hou Juhua CHN 67 2 Guangzhou 29.11.1987

47 31:28.06 Wang Xiuting CHN 16.02.65 6 Barcelona 07.08.1992

48 31:28.83 Wei Li CHN 29.06.72 7 Beijing 08.09.1993

49 31:28.92 Francie Larrieu-Smith USA 23.11.52 1 Austin 04.04.1991

50 31:29.27 Kathrin Weßel GER 14.08.67 4 Seoul 30.09.1988

Something was certainly strange in Beijing on Sep. 8, 1993.