China qualifies for Olympic 4x100m relay
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E-mail Xinhua, July 4, 2012
The International Association of Athletics Federations named the list of entries for men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400m relays at the London Olympics on Wednesday.
Among the four events, which each feature 16 teams, China won a berth in the men's 4x100m relay, placing 14th in Olympic qualification.
The Hong Kong team is the highest ranked Asian team in the men's 4x100m relay, placing 10th in the IAAF ranking, while Japan is 13th.
According to the IAAF, the 16-team list was decided by each country's performance at international events from the first day of 2011 to July 2, 2012. The IAAF required each team to take part in at least three international meetings during the period and combined each team's two best results to decide the Olympic list.
The Chinese relay team finished in 38:65 sec to claim the title and break the national record at the Asian Athletics Grand Prix in Thailand in May, which was the third best result in the world at the time.
However, other countries caught up fast. The Jamaicans maintained their dominance on the track by placing first thanks to their outstanding performance at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. They finished in 38:07 in the semifinals and broke the world record with a 37:04 run in final. The United States and France qualified second and third.
Japan is the only Asian team that has qualified for the men's 4x400m and women's 4x100m relays at the Games.
