She is the fastest Asian woman in history with a personal best time of 10.79 in the 100m and a 22.01 in the 200m, both ran during the National Games of China.

Coming from a modest family, she started practising athletics in 1988 at the Guanghan Amateur Sports School.

At the age of 18, Li easily won the 100m (11.36) and the 200m (22.93, national junior record) at the Chinese City Games, a quadrennial competition for athletes under 21.

[4] Together with Pei Fang, Yan Jiankui and Liu Xiaomei, they managed to reach the 4 x 100m final, where they finished eighth and last.

She crossed the line in 11.03s to qualify for the final, beating the Guangxi experimented sprinter Tian Yumei and one of Sichuan's top runner Li Yali, who both set new personal bests.

The 2001 season was better; Li took part to the World Indoor Championships, where she set a new area record on 60m in the semi-finals, clocking a time of 7.19s that still stands today.

In August, Li won the 200m at the World Student Games in 22.86s, beating Belgium star Kim Gevaert and Belarus Natalia Safronnikava.

China's 4 x 100m team composed of Li, Chen Yueqin, Yan Jiankui and Zeng Xiujun dominated the final to beat Brazil and France which respectively won silver and bronze.

In the 100m and 200m events, the first two places replicated the 1997 races: Li won the gold medals in 11.14s and 22.75s and Liu Xiaomei silver in 11.22s and 23.15s; both recording seasonal bests.

Even though the Chinese Athletics Federation was reluctant to send her to the Olympics because of her mixed results she achieved that year; she was selected, but only on 100m.