Tian Xiaojun, vice president of the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), said he was happy to see Chinese athletes make history by pocketing two gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Tian said it's not easy for athletes to participate in international tournaments while COVID-19 is kicking around, and still have incredible performances.

Tian praised the resilience of veterans like Gong Lijiao, Liu Yang and Qieyang Shijie, calling their fighting spirits "inspiring." Meanwhile, Tian was not surprised at the breakthroughs achieved by Wang Jianan and Zhu Yaming because he knew they were capable of doing so.

"Wang has been building himself for this," Tian said. "He won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Beijing in 2015. He is completely capable of winning the gold and he took advantage of the opportunity to do so this time in Eugene."

Though the young generation of Chinese athletes didn't produce many highlights at the World Championships this year, Tian didn't sound too worried about it. "Youngsters need a process. Our athletes didn't participate in many competitions this year, especially at the international level, because of COVID-19," he told Xinhua. "As a result, they understandably failed to perform their best at major tournaments like the World Championships."

Despite the excellent performance of certain athletes, Tian saw the gap between Chinese athletes and their American counterparts, who competed in every event in full quota. By contrast, China had only 53 athletes participating in 23 events, which were fewer than half of the total events.

Tian wanted Chinese athletes to stay sharp for 2023, in which there will be the World Athletics Indoor Championships, Asian Games and World Championships. The Paris Olympics is also approaching.

"First, we must work hard in every event to help as many athletes as possible qualify for as many disciplines as possible," Tian said. "Second, we need to maximize our advantage in the events we could win medals to target the gold."

Therefore, according to Tian, the CAA will continue to send more athletes overseas to train and compete while introducing more quality foreign coaches to Team China.