Zheng Fengrong (), born in 1937 in

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, is a Chinese former

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

, who competed in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

event.

Biography

Joining the national team in 1953, Zheng broke the high jump

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

with a jump of 1.77 m in 1957, making her the first Chinese woman to hold a sports world record. The domestic media hailed her as "the swallow who announced that the spring of China's sports has arrived," and Chinese research claims, that her training was twice as arduous as her foreign competitors. A 2007 profile in China Daily compared Zheng's popularity in her day with that of Liu Xiang today. Since the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

did not compete in the Summer Olympics between 1952 and 1984, Zheng could not participate in the 1956 competition, won by

Mildred McDaniel Mildred "Millie" Louise McDaniel-Singleton ( McDaniel, November 4, 1933 – September 30, 2004) was an American athlete, who competed mainly in the women's high jump event during her career. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, she attended David T. ...

, whose world record Zheng bettered. In her subsequent career and in retirement she won official honours and recognition as an early athletic success for the PRC. Though persecuted for "egotism" during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, she eventually rose to become vice-secretary of the China State General Sports Administration. She married the 1959 Chinese high jump champion, Duan Qiyan 段其炎. Zheng was one of eight athletes who carried the Olympic flag in the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

opening ceremonies An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

. She won several medals at the

Chinese National Games The National Games of the People's Republic of China (), sometimes known as the All China Games (though not to be confused with the All-China Games), is the premier sports event in China at national level. It is usually held once every four yea ...

. She won the athletics triathlon and high jump titles at the 1959 Chinese National Games and the

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

at the 1965 Chinese National Games. She was also successful at the

GANEFO The Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) were the games set up by Indonesia as a counter to the Olympic Games. Established for the athletes of the so-called "emerging nations" (mainly newly independent socialist states), GANEFO was the name ...

: she won the women's pentathlon and was high jump runner-up at the 1963 edition, then won a pentathlon and high jump double at the 1966 games, as well as an

80 metres hurdles 80 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling ran by women until 1972 in international competitions. Since the 1972 Summer Olympics, the event has been permanently replaced by the 100 metre hurdles. Masters athletics The distance, with different sp ...

bronze.GANEFO Games
GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2019-10-10. Her granddaughter Nina Schultz is a heptathlete that competed for Canada internationally and at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

in the collegiate level. She ultimately renounced her Canadian citizenship in 2021 for China, with her intention to compete for China in future sports events.

References

Living people 1937 births Sportspeople from Jinan Athletes from Shandong Chinese female high jumpers Chinese heptathletes Chinese pentathletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) {{PRChina-athletics-bio-stub