Zhong Guiqing (; born 5 July 1977) is a Chinese former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

. Her best of is a former

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 ...

. She was a one-time Chinese national champion. Zhong was active in the early history of women's pole vaulting, starting to achieve results at national level in 1994 – five years before the women's event first featured at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

.Zhong Guiqing
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2016-01-31. Her best vault of 1994 was , which placed her in the top twenty globally for the developing discipline that season.Zhong Guiqing
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2016-01-31. She cleared a height of to win at the

Chinese Athletics Championships The Chinese Athletics Championships ( zh, 全国田径锦标赛) is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national championship for the People's Republic of China. It is organised by Chinese Athletic Association, China's nationa ...

in 1995 and this was a women's pole vault world record, bettering by three centimetres the mark set by

Sun Caiyun Sun Caiyun (; born July 21, 1973 in Shenzhen) is a Chinese former pole vaulter, who was one of the leading athletes in her discipline in the early 1990s. She became the first official world record holder, jumping 4.05 meters on May 21, 1992 in Nanj ...

at the same competition three years earlier. Both Sun and Zhong achieved the same mark that day, with Zhong taking the championship title on count-back rules. The

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

only began ratifying women's pole vault world records in 1992 and Zhong's mark made her China's second consecutive record holder in the event. Zhong's record lasted only three days, as

Daniela Bártová Daniela Bártová-Břečková () (born 6 May 1974) is a retired Czech athlete. She was born in Ostrava. Originally a gymnast, her coach persuaded her to be a pole vaulter. She set nine world records in the mid-1990s, but she lost it on 4 November 1 ...

of the Czech Republic began a string of records in the event that year, with a total of ten record jumps culminating in a height of . Reflecting the growing popularity of the sport, Zhong was one of five women to hold the world record that season, alongside Sun, Bártová, Andrea Müller and

Emma George __NOTOC__Emma George (born 1 November 1974 in Beechworth, Victoria) is a former Australian pole vaulter. She set twelve world records in a row in the late nineties, but she lost the record on 26 May 2000 to Stacy Dragila and was unable to recaptu ...

. Zhong eventually ranked sixth globally for the season in 1995, and third among Chinese athletes behind Sun and Cai Weiyan. She improved her bests in 1996, managing indoors in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

in February and then a lifetime best of in national competition in October. Despite her improvements, the sport was being pushed to new heights at the same time and George's world record reached that July. Zhong was again behind her national rivals Sun and Cai, though her season's best height placed her equal eighth on the global rankings for the year.Top 25 Lists - 1996
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2016-01-31. Zhong's last vault over four metres came in the 1997, but she dropped out of the world top twenty. She continued to compete until 2001, at which point her career came to a close.

National titles

**Pole vault: 1995

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhong, Guiqing Living people 1977 births Chinese female pole vaulters World record setters in athletics (track and field)