Former high jump world record

Zheng Fengrong (© Getty Images)

World Athletics is saddened to hear that Chinese high jump pioneer and former world record-holder Zheng Fengrong died on Tuesday (25) at the age of 89.

Zheng made athletics history in Beijing in November 1957 when, aged 20, she cleared 1.77m to set a world high jump record. The performance added one centimetre to the 1.76m record shared by USA’s 1956 Olympic champion Mildred McDaniel and Romanian high jump legend Iolanda Balaș.

It also made Zheng the first Chinese athlete to set a world record in athletics, as well as the first Chinese woman to set a world record in any sport. Zheng held the world record for almost seven months before Balaș reclaimed it with a 1.78m clearance in Bucharest in June 1958.

Zheng’s achievement caused a sensation in China. She was hailed as “the swallow who announced that the spring of China’s sports has arrived”, and her popularity was later compared with that of sprint hurdler Liu Xiang at the height of his career.

Born in Jinan in China’s Shandong province in May 1937, Zheng joined the national athletics training team in 1953. She quickly emerged as one of the country’s leading athletes and won the high jump at the National High School and College Games the following year.

Zheng was also a talented combined events athlete. At the inaugural Chinese National Games in 1959 she won both the high jump and triathlon, and six years later she won the heptathlon at the 1965 edition. She also enjoyed success at the Games of the New Emerging Forces, winning the pentathlon in 1963 before claiming both the high jump and pentathlon titles in 1966.

Despite being among the leading high jumpers of her generation, Zheng never had the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games as the People’s Republic of China did not participate in the Summer Games during the peak years of her career.

After retiring from competition, Zheng remained closely involved in Chinese sport and served as vice-president of the Chinese Athletics Association. In 1996 she received the Silver Olympic Order in recognition of her contribution to the Olympic movement.

She was given a prominent role when the Olympic Games were held in Beijing in 2008, being selected as one of eight former Chinese athletes and coaches to carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony.

Her influence on athletics also continued through her family. Her granddaughter Zheng Ninali, formerly known as Nina Schultz while representing Canada, switched allegiance to China and competed in the heptathlon at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, fulfilling Zheng’s long-held wish for a member of her family to compete at the Olympics.

Zheng’s historic achievement is also represented in the World Athletics Heritage Collection by a signed first-day cover commemorating the 40th anniversary of her 1.77m world record.