Chunxiu Zhou

CHNWomen

Zhou Chunxiu (Chinese: 周春秀; pinyin: Zhōu Chūnxiù; born November 15, 1978, in Sheqi County, Henan) is a Chinese marathon runner. She competed at the 2008 Olympic Games, finishing the marathon in 3rd place. She placed fourth in the marathon at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.

She won the marathon gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. She won the silver medal in the marathon at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, and won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, one second behind the silver medalist. She finished fourth at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

On April 22, 2007, she won the women's race at the London Marathon for the first time in a time of 2:20:38. In 2010, Zhou took second place at the Seoul International Marathon, finishing behind Amane Gobena with a time of 2:25:01. Her personal best for the marathon is 2:19:51 hours, a time which she achieved in March 2006 with her win at the Seoul International Marathon. The performance made her the seventh woman in history to surpass the barrier of two hours and twenty minutes in the marathon. She set a half marathon best of 1:08:59 hours at the 2008 Yangzhou Jianzhen International Half Marathon, winning the race in course record and China all-comers record time.