Ma told the Harbin Daily that he was stepping down from his role as deputy head of the Liaoning provincial sports bureau.

"I will not go back to the track. It is my final goodbye to the sport," he said.

'Ma's Family Army', an elite team of female middle and long-distance runners put together by the coach, shattered a string of world records in the 1990s.

Wang Junxia, his star pupil and herself a multiple world record holder, severed her ties with him before the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 before winning the 5,000 metres gold at the Games, with silver in the 10,000.