Never stop learning is key to success for Sun Haiping

Winner of the 110m Hurdles at the Athens Olympic Games Liu Xiang has made tremendous improvements in the last couple of years. Francesco Liello met with the man who helped him achieve what no other Chinese sprinter had ever done.

One of the popular dilemmas of athletics is to know what would have happened to an athlete if he/she hadn’t found his/her coach. And in the same way, for some coaches, what would have happened to them, or at least their popularity, if they hadn’t been paired to this or that particular athlete.

Looking at the past it is difficult to think about former 200m World record holder Pietro Mennea without thinking about coach Vittori and the special bond that linked the two men. Probably if they hadn’t worked so closely together, they wouldn’t have reached the top as they did in the 1970s.

In the same way how can one think of former Olympic champion Maurice Greene without mentioning John Smith. Maybe Greene would have pursued his career as a football player if he hadn’t met and worked with Smith. It’s difficult to tell and no one will ever know. What we know however is that Greene was determined enough to make the move from his native Kansas to California and his partnership with Smith led to three World Championships gold at 100m, the 2000 Olympic gold at 100m and a World 100m record back in 1999. And although coach Smith was already successfull at the time the boy from Kansas City came to him, with Greene he was probably given the opportunity to enter in a new era of coaching. 

Similarly Michael Johnson had found in Clyde Hart the man he needed to become 9 times World champion and double World record holder. On the other hand Hart, with Johnson, gained in popularity but also learnt a lot; skills that he could then pass on to another Olympic champion like Jeremy Wariner.

And speaking of the Athens Olympics maybe the biggest star of the Games together with double Olympic champions Hicham El Guerrouj and Kelly Holmes was 21-year-old Liu Xiang who not only won the 110m Hurdles final to become the first Chinese male to win a track gold medal but he also tied Colin Jackson’s 11-year-old World record in the process.

Liu Xiang who has since become a true hero in China also has a very special bond with his coach Sun Haiping (Sun is the surname although, in China, both names are used together).

Winner of the latest “Newcomer of the Year” World Sport award, Liu explained: “When I started training seriously, I had never thought I could compete with athletes like Allen Johnson. Then I was progressing pretty smoothly and my ambition started to grow. But I needed time to start thinking I could be a challenge for the champions and I needed to do a psychological shift. For this I have to thank my coach. I get along with him so well that we don’t even need words to understand each other. Without him I could never be who I am now.”

This pretty much sums up the special bond that we’re talking about. If you go back in the past and listen to the words of Mennea, Greene or Johnson you will hear the exact same words. And when you hear the coaches they will all say the same: “My athlete is very special; he is the greatest I’ve ever had.” Which is all true, as it is true that both need each other to be successful.

And for Sun Haiping there is no difference, he needs Liu as much as Liu needs him. Thanks to Liu’s exceptional performance in Athens, he also entered into Chinese history (and not just athletics or sports history) by contributing to bring the first Olympic gold in sprint for China.

Born in Shanghai, Sun Haiping is extremely gentle (as Chinese people are) but solid enough to stay put and not let his athlete be carried away by his enormous popularity.

You have been under tremendous pressure this year. How did you manage to keep focused?
Truly there is just one way of doing it and it’s about understanding that nothing is given and you need to always train hard to stay at the top. I don’t think there is any different way to do it. So what I did this year with Liu is just the same as what I did last year. He was good to not let the pressure get over him.

You seem to be with your feet on the ground Mr. Sun, could you please tell us about yourself?
Well, I am 50 now and I spent my whole life in the sport. The rest is just normal life like anyone else. I am married with a daughter that will start University next year and the 3 of us live together with my mother. As I said, just a pretty normal life. I don’t think I am special.

Your whole life in the sport means you were an athlete too?
Yes, I was, although not at a very high level. I was hurdler myself and started in 1970 but I had to stop in 1978 due to an injury. But I have never thought of doing anything else other than athletics.

Injured at 23! So what did you do then?
While I was an athlete I had also started University of Physical Education in Shanghai. So I just thought I should go on with it and I graduated in 1982. As soon as I obtained my degree I started teaching at the same University I was going to.

Is that how you started your coaching career?
Somehow, but in 1984 I left the position at the University and entered the Shanghai Track and Field Team as a coach and never left since. I only coach hurdlers, both men and women in all 3 events: 100m, 110m and 400m. And now I have about 12/13 athletes that I am following and their age ranges from 15 (the youngest) to 28.

Well it’s quite a lot of athletes to follow when you have such a champion to be with all the time. Who would you pick in your group as a future champion?
I don’t really want to pick anyone but I believe that there is a bigger potential on the women’s side. Now it’s impossible to think about anyone able to do what Liu Xiang is doing but I find that there are more talents among the women than the men. I think that for Chinese athletics it’s important to guarantee a future to the great path started by Liu Xiang so we need to work hard on that too, but we do have some hopes.

We think about Chinese athletes as distance runners not as hurdlers or sprinters. Are we going to see more of these?
It’s true that physically it is easier to think about a Chinese athlete as a distance runner. If you compare the Americans and some Europeans there is no match, they are physically more skilled and much stronger than we are. But I think that Chinese can be technically better and are keener to work hard. That is how we will close the gap.

Does this mean that Liu Xiang will no longer be the only Chinese sprinter on the circuit?
I can’t tell right now, but again, I believe that there are bigger hopes in seeing women athletes soon at a high level in the hurdles.

But how do you find a champion? How did it happen with Liu Xiang?
You can’t really find a champion. You see the skills of an athlete that make you think he could be a champion but then you need to work hard on him. And you need luck too, like being in the right place at the right moment. With Liu it wasn’t that different. It was in 1999 and he was 16. He was going to the School of Physical Education and was training as a high jumper. I could see him on the track everyday and I started to follow his moves. I was impressed by the great rhythm he had so I started thinking about him as a hurdler. After some time I went to him and asked if he wanted to try it and that’s how everything started.

But then you made him a champion. Is he special or do you have some amazing coaching techniques?
Well, I guess you can say both…He’s definitely special and has such a wonderful talent and I have my tips. But the 2 things need to blend perfectly to make it happen. And in addition to that there are other reasons that help having a champion and an Olympic gold. The support of the Government is fundamental also because it gives us the opportunity of using scientific training that are necessary these days. It’s a combination of all this but ends up simply being very hard work.

But still, his main goal was to try and win the Olympics in Beijing 2008. Now as reigning champion he just can’t lose it?
Well, he showed he is capable of winning so we shouldn’t think about losing! It’s true that there are a lot of expectations for this and that all the country hopes but we cannot be 100% sure that it will happen. There are a lot of strong competitors out there and some more even to come. The only thing I can do about this is to ensure him constant training and hard work. It is the only way you can think about reaching your goals. And winning in Beijing is certainly our greatest one.

Does it mean that there might be nothing else after that?
It is too early to say and it will all depend on him. For sure we will focus on Beijing for these next 3 years, having, year after year different goals to reach, like the World Championships and good results. But we aren’t thinking about after 2008. He’s still very young though and so he has a lot of time ahead of him, so he could still go on but it will all depend on how long he will want to carry the pressure on his shoulders.

Ok, this is about Liu Xiang, but what made you a successful coach?
Again I must say that it was a combination of things. I am no magician but I know the event pretty well as I’ve been always just a hurdles coach. So with time I have learnt more and more about it, also watching what the others were doing. In addition to that, we receive great support in China and the chance to use the best facilities for training and also a great scientific support. It’s just about this.

So there is no magic formula like in the past?
First of all we are talking about events that are so different. There can be no comparison between hurdles events and distance running. But most important since the 1990s the whole concept of training in China has changed. The State is now capable of offering to all modern facilities, the best scientific support and is always there for our needs. Even making a lot of money is not enough, it helps, but it’s not enough to be successful. The key of success for an athlete is training hard. The key to success for a coach is never to stop learning.

Published in IAAF Magazine Issue 2 - 2005