Chinese marathon athlete Zhou Chunxiu, the winner of this year's London marathon race, said she was not in her best form but she will try to keep a calm mind, which will be the key to win in Osaka world athletics championships.

 

"The London marathon exhausted me a lot," said Zhou, China's other gold medal hopeful besides Liu Xiang, the world record holder in men's 110m hurdles.

 

"You know marathon is different from some other sports. An athlete usually has only one time of best mood in a year," Zhou said at a press conference.

 

"My situation now is not as good as in the London marathon in April. But I will try my best to get a good result, and the key is to keep a calm, good mind."

 

Zhou is suffering an ankle injury and kidney stone. But she said they are not very serious and she is still fit enough to compete.

 

After the London race, which she finished first with 2 hours 20 minutes 38 seconds, Zhou had only ten days of rest and attended some competitions in China except for daily training. She has been training in China's Qinghai Province, where is 2,600 meters above the sea level, for four weeks before coming to Osaka.

 

She said the humidity and hot weather in Osaka will be a main challenge to her and many other marathon runners.

 

The temperature on Wednesday reached as high as 35 Celsius degrees. And when the men's marathon, which began at 7 AM on August 25, finished, it was 33 degrees, the highest-ever in the history of world championships.

 

"As an athlete, you have to get used to all kinds of situation," said Zhou, who ranked fifth in 2005 world championships in Helsinki.

 

She believed she will get a better place this time. "I am more experienced now," she said.

 

The 28-year-old has only five years of experience in marathon. Before she met her coach Liang Songli and started to run Marathon, she was a 800m/1500m runner without outstanding performance.

 

Liang also emphasized the importance of calm mind. "Competition is a kind of training," he said, "Take it as a normal training and do her best, that will be everything."

 

Zhou is facing pressure as many Chinese are expecting her to be a "female Liu Xiang" who earned China its first Olympic gold medal in men's track and field.

 

Liu is now a hero and youth idol in China, where people's sports enthusiasm keeps rising as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is approaching.

 

"I don't care how others say. I don't think so much about it. Just keep a calm mind," she said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2007)