Athletics at the 8th National Games of China
Dates	17–23 October 1997
Host city	Shanghai, PR China
← 1993 Beijing 2001 Guangzhou →

At the 8th National Games of the People's Republic of China, the athletics events were held in Shanghai in October 1997.

These games were marred by numerous doping affairs.^[1]

Guangxi runners Chen Xuehui (the 800m silver medalist), Jiang Limei (the 400m hurdles champion) and Peng Yinghua (the 400m hurdles silver medalist) were later disqualified for doping. Sichuan long jumper Xiong Qiying, the long jump event winner, was also tested positive.

Medal summary

Men's events

Women's events

Results

Women

100 m

Held on October 17–18.^[2]

After having clocking 10.90 seconds in the heats (setting a new area record in the process), Sichuan's Li Xuemei easily won her semi-final before smashing her record in a high-level final with a time of 10.79 seconds.^[3]

Her teammate Liu Xiaomei, who had won the event four years before,^[4] took the silver medal in a personal best time of 10.89 seconds.

Guangxi twice Olympian veteran Tian Yumei finished third with a time of 11.06 seconds; equaling her personal best she had set in the semi-finals.^[5]

Nineteen-year-old Xiao Lin from Sichuan broke the Asian junior record three times. She came to Shanghai with a personal best of 11.29 seconds set in Chengdu that year^[6] and improved it to 11.22 in the heats, then to 11.20 in the semi-finals and finally to 11.17 in the final.

Semi-finals

First 4 of each heat (Q) qualified for the final.

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Li Xuemei	Sichuan	10.79	AR, GR
	Liu Xiaomei	Sichuan	10.89	PB
	Tian Yumei	Guangxi	11.06	=PB
4	Pei Fang	Shanghai	11.10
5	Li Yali	Sichuan	11.15
6	Xiao Lin	Sichuan	11.17	AJR
7	Liang Yi	Jiangsu	11.20
8	Cui Danfeng	Jiangsu	11.43

200 m

Held on October 21–22. Chen Yuxiang from Shandong set a new Asian junior record of 22.83 seconds in the heats and advanced to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals

First 4 of each heat (Q) qualified for the final.

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Li Xuemei	Sichuan	22.01	AR, GR
	Liu Xiaomei	Sichuan	22.36	PB
	Du Xiujie	Guangdong	22.56	SB
4	Li Yali	Sichuan	22.87
5	Liang Yi	Jiangsu	22.94	PB
6	Xiong Xiaoying		?
7	Xiang Chirong	Shandong	?
8	Chen Yuxiang	Shandong	?

400 m

Held on October 17–18.^[7]

The final was won by Liaoning 17-year-old Li Jing in an astonishing time of 50.01 seconds. She beat Grit Breuer's world youth record of 50.48 seconds set in 1989 in the process.

Guangdong Du Xiujie and Shandong Chen Yuxiang finished respectively second and third. Zhang Hengyun, from Jiangsu, who had finished second in the event four years before; crossed the line in fourth place, recording despite all a new personal best.

Heats

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Li Jing	Liaoning	50.01	WYR, AJR
	Du Xiujie	Guangdong	50.87	SB
	Chen Yuxiang	Shandong	51.15	PB
4	Zhang Hengyun	Jiangsu	51.22	PB
5	Bu Fanfang	Shandong	51.85	PB
6	Lü Xifang	Jiangsu	51.99
7	Cao Chunying	Hebei	52.21	SB
8	Zhang Ying		53.23

800 m

Held between October 21–22.^[8]

Heats

First 2 of each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Lang Yinglai	Liaoning	1:57.62	PB
	Lin Na	Liaoning	1:58.16	PB
	Zhang Jian	Beijing	1:58.98	PB
4	Liu Jing	Jiangsu	1:59.15
5	Wang Qingfen	Henan	1:59.29
6	Yan Wei	Henan	1:59.66	PB
7	Liu Haiyan	Guangdong	2:00.99
DQ	Chen Xuehui	Guangxi	1:57.82

1500 m

Held on October 17–18. It primarily consisted of Liaoning runners.

Qu Yunxia was expected to break the 3:50 bar according to her coach, Ma Junren. However, she fell during the final and only finished eighth.^[9] Her 20-year-old teammate Jiang Bo eventually won the race, clocking 3:50.98, the second fastest time ever.^[10] It remains one of three times under 3:51.^[11] Less than a half second behind her, barely 18 year old Lang Yinglai set the still standing World Junior Record, breaking the previous record by Lan Lixin set in the qualifying round. In fifth place, 16 year old Zhang Ling set the still standing World Youth Best. At the conclusion of this race, the top six all were in the top 12 in history (plus Qu in eight place still the world record holder). Since this race, only Genzebe Dibaba has run faster than any of them.

Heats

First 5 of each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Jiang Bo	Liaoning	3:50.98	WL
	Lang Yinglai	Liaoning	3:51.34	WJR
	Yin Lili	Liaoning	3:53.91	PB
4	Lan Lixin	Liaoning	3:53.97	PB
5	Zhang Ling	Beijing	3:54.52	WYR
6	Dong Yanmei	Liaoning	3:55.07	PB
7	Liu Jing	Jiangsu	3:57.77
8	Qu Yunxia	Liaoning	3:57.83
9	Liu Dong	Liaoning	3:58.18
10	Wang Qingfen	Henan	4:02.22
11	Yan Wei	Henan	4:04.27
	Wang Chunmei	Henan	?

10,000 m

Held on October 19.^[12]

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Dong Yanmei	Liaoning	30:38.09	PB, WL
	Lan Lixin	Liaoning	30:39.41	WJR
	Yin Lili	Liaoning	30:39.98	PB
4	Dong Zhaoxia	Shanghai	30:47.22
5	Wang Dongmei	Henan	30:47.72
6	Liu Shixiang	Shandong	30:55.83
7	Song Liqing	Liaoning	31:11.26	WYB
8	Wang Mingxia	Shandong	31:12.58
9	Yang Siju	Yunnan	31:16.39
10	Wang Yanfang	Liaoning	31:59.93
11	Wang Xiaoxia	Liaoning	32:15.22
12	Cui Guomei	Shandong	32:46.67
13	Liang Ying	Yunnan	33:06.19
14	Wang Xiujie	Army	33:17.98
15	Cui Yuying	Liaoning	33:26.32
16	Li Dong	Henan	33:27.79
17	Tong Dejing	Jilin	33:36.95
18	Lu Jing	Railway	33:41.22
19	Li Wei	Shandong	?

100 m hurdles

Held on October 17–18.

Heats

Final

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Notes
	Zeng Yan	Sichuan	12.74	PB
	Liu Jing	Sichuan	12.76	PB
	Zhang Yu	Tianjin	12.84	SB
4	Luo Bin	Hunan	12.88	PB
5	Zhou Jing	Hebei	12.89
6	Sun Hongwei	Hebei	12.92	AJR
7	Tan Yali		?
8	Tang Xiaoyue		?

400 m hurdles

Held on October 21–22.^[13]

Jiang Limei and Peng Yinghua, both from Guangxi had respectively won the gold and the silver medals but were later disqualified after failing a doping test.^[14]

Heats

First 2 of each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.

4 × 400 m relay

Held on October 23.

Final

Rank	Team	Name	Time	Notes
	Jiangsu,  China	Zhang Henghua, Cui Danfeng, Lü Xifang, Zhang Hengyun	3:26.88	PB
	Hebei,  China		3:29.99	SB
	Sichuan,  China	Liu Xiaomei, Tian Xiaoxia, Li Xuemei, Li Cong	3:30.17
4
5
6
7
DQ	Guangxi,  China	Peng Yinghua, Chen Xuehui, Gong Ruiping, Jiang Limei	3:26.37	*

• The Guangxi team was later disqualified after the hurdlers Peng Yinghua, Jiang Limei and the 800 m runner Chen Xuehui failed a doping test. Jiangsu was awarded the gold medal and Sichuan, which originally finished fourth took the bronze medal.

Heptathlon

Held on October 17–18, after a three years break, Zhejiang Chinese record holder Ma Miaolan won her second consecutive National Games title, winning the event with a total of 6236 points. Her 16-year-old teammate Shen Shengfei set a new World youth record to finish second, beating Sichuan's Liu Xin by only one point.