CATERPILLAR fungus and turtle blood. Ma’s Army: Times
too good to be true?That's what Ma Junren, the mysterious and controversial coach of Chinese super women, says his athletes take into their systems.
It's his way of cutting off inevitable questions about doping.
These questions will probably persist as long as he is an active coach. And no wonder.
"Ma's Army," as it's been dubbed, made a stunning comeback at the quadrennial Chinese National Games that concluded on Friday.
In case you didn't notice with the World Series going on, the following magic happened in Beijing:
<img src="bu.gif"> Twelve women broke 4 minutes at 1500 meters. Six of them were from Ma's Army, including 20-year-old Jiang Bo, whose 3:50.98 was .52 off the world record.
Only one woman from another country had broken 4 minutes in 1997.
<img src="bu.gif"> Six women broke 31 minutes at 10,000 meters, even though no woman had done that in the past three years. The top three were Ma's runners.
<img src="bu.gif"> The 5,000-meter world record was broken twice last week -- both times by Ma's runners.
Amazingly, Dong Yanmei, who set the first 5,000 record (14:31.27), and who ran the fifth fastest 10,000-meter time in history (30:39.41), is only 17 -- the age of a high school senior.
Jiang Bo set the second 5,000-meter world mark with a 14:28.09.
We're going to have a chance to see the most spectacular of Ma's proteges here on Dec. 13 when Wang Junxia comes to town for the Nike P.L.A.Y. Waikiki Mile.
Wang ran faster than the world record four times in three events over seven days at the 1993 Chinese Nationals.
She is the world record holder in the 10,000 as the only woman to ever break 30 minutes.
Wang, like other disciples of Ma, revolted against him and left his "army" to strike out in a different direction. And, not unlike her compatriots, Wang has had to battle through a period of illness that took her off the track. God only knows what it was like to work for Ma.
Just as it will be interesting to see a wunderkind like Wang, now 23, perform out from under the dubious influence of Ma, it would be fascinating to see Dong and Jiang run here, too.
Unfortunately, though Honolulu Marathon officials have salivated over the idea of bringing in a few of this year's new Chinese superstars, that probably won't be possible.
The Honolulu Marathon's connection with China, Boston agent-attorney Mark Wetmore, deals only through the Chinese Athletic Association, and the CAA doesn't see eye to eye with Ma these days.
By the way, Chinese women aren't the only ones raising suspicions with their phenomenal times.
Kenya's Eric Kimaiyo, who will defend his Honolulu Marathon title here on Dec. 14, is one of three African men to run between 2:07:10 and 2:07:43 in 1997.
In 1997, 15 Africans have run better at 5,000 meters than the world record set in 1994.
Africans have also been trashing the 10,000 and the steeplechase marks with amazing regularity.
The Chicago Tribune, which focused on all of this in a story last week, pointed out that none of the African men's performances or the top Chinese women's performances have been shot down by positive drug tests.
It might be easier for the Western sports culture to dismiss them with the presumption of drug-enhancement.
On the other hand, maybe we'd better consider the possibility that the source of all this excellence is a much tougher athletic mindset than we presently have within our own borders.