Career
Her personal best of 11.06 seconds for the 100 metres was set in 1997. She represented China in the 100 m at the Summer Olympics twice (1988, 1992) and also competed at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics. She enjoyed success with the Chinese 4×100 metres relay team from 1987 to 1993.
She shared in the Asian title in 1987, 1991 and 1993, as well as the 1990 Asian Games title.
The team competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and took the gold medals at the IAAF World Cup the same year. She placed third in the 100 metres behind the more established Lydia de Vega and P.T. Usha but took the gold with the Chinese 4×100 metres relay team
She was chosen to compete at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics, but again did not progress beyond the quarterfinals. Tian made her second Olympic appearance at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
She reached the quarterfinals of the 100 m for a second time and also ran in the heats of the relay competition, alongside Gao Han, Chen Zhaojing, and Xiao Yehua.
The quartet regrouped for the 1992 IAAF World Cup held in Havana and they claimed the women"s relay time with a time of 43.63 seconds. The 7th Chinese National Games in September 1993 saw Chinese sprinting reach new heights: Tian set a personal best of 11.24 seconds for the 100 m but was beaten into second place by Liu Xiaomei, who broke the Asian record for the event with her run of 11.02 seconds. Tian also helped Guangxi to the relay National Games title.
Three months later Tian defeated Liu in the 100 m at the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships to retain her regional title in a time of 11.36 seconds.
The pair teamed up to secure the 4×100 m relay title for China for a fourth consecutive title. Tian did not appear on an international podium again after 1993.
Her last outing at a major event was the 1997 Chinese National Games. She set a 100 m personal best of 11.06 seconds to place third behind Liu and Li Xuemei (the latter setting the current Asian record of 1079 seconds).
The games was seriously marred by doping – many champions were stripped of their titles and the overall level of performances remain questionable to international audiences.
Tian was a relay silver medallist in the National Games with Guangxi and this proved to be her last major medal.