Former world champion
Dong in the running
at Waikiki Mile

She becomes the second
Chinese standout to commit to the race

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Dong Liu, a former world champion in the 1,500 meters and a sub-four minute finisher in that event at the recent Chinese National Games, has committed to run in the Nike P.L.A.Y. Waikiki Mile, race director Jon Cross said.

Dong is the second Chinese national runner to commit to the elite mile race, which will be staged on Kalakaua Avenue Dec. 13. Wang Junxia, the world record-holder at 10,000 and 3,000 meters and a gold medalist in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, signed a few weeks ago.

Dong, like Wang, once was coached by the controversial Ma Junren. But also like Wang, she broke away from Ma and is coached by Dezhen Mao. She won the 1,500 in the World Track and Field Championship in Stuttgart in 1993 and is the Chinese 800-meter record holder (1:54.54 at the 1993 Chinese National Games).

Dong finished ninth in the 1,500 (3:58.18) in the recent Chinese National Games, but she ran 3:56.31 in the heats.

The Waikiki Mile field includes U.S. middle-distance legend Mary Slaney, who is making her comeback, two-time Fifth Avenue Mile champion Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain, Irish star Sonia O'Sullivan and America's Regina Jacobs, the 1997 world silver medalist in the 1,500.

In the Honolulu Marathon Dec. 14, eight-time women's winner Carla Beurskens of Holland has withdrawn due to a foot injury, according to Cross.