Pressure to reform mounts on China sports system

In front of thousands in a cavernous Shanghai stadium, long jumper Li Jinzhe thundered down the track before soaring 8.34 metres to victory, sending his fans into a patriotic frenzy.

Li is one of a new wave of foreign-coached track and field stars who are making China an emerging athletics force - but their independent attitude is putting pressure on the intense state sports system to reform.

"It's not a surprise. I expected to jump well," said the 23-year-old after he beat a strong field including three previous Olympic champions at the Diamond League meeting last month.

As the focus shifts to China's next showcase sporting event, the 2015 World Athletics Championships in the capital, experts say that less intense foreign coaching schemes yield better results than the gruelling state training regimes.

Li trains regularly in the US under Loren Seagrave, who has worked with a number of Olympic champions, including Canada's 100m sprinter Donovan Bailey and women's 200m winner Pauline Davis-Thompson, from the Bahamas.

Seagrave has also coached star Chinese sprinter Zhang Peimeng, who broke China's 200m record with a time of 20.47 seconds in Shanghai, only a month after he set a national 100m mark in 10.04. "Our training makes them experience a different culture from what they are used to, which forces them to open up, and this generates success," says Seagrave.