BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- World Athletics mourned the passing of Chinese high jump pioneer and former world record-holder Zheng Fengrong, who died on Tuesday at the age of 89.
"Zheng made athletics history in Beijing in November 1957 when, aged 20, she cleared 1.77-meter to set a world high jump record," read the obituary published by the sport's global governing body on its website on Thursday.
Zheng's performance added one centimeter to the world record of 1.76m shared by 1956 Olympic champion Mildred McDaniel of the United States and Romania's Iolanda Balas, making her the first Chinese athlete to set a world record in athletics and the first female athlete in China to set a world record in any sport.
Although Zheng's world record was broken by Balas with a 1.78m clearance in 1958, she went on to improve China's national record to 1.78m in June 1963.
Hailed as "the swallow who announced that the spring of China's sports has arrived", Zheng also emerged as one of the country's leading athletes in combined events, winning gold medals at the Chinese National Games as well as the Games of the New Emerging Forces.
After retiring from competition, Zheng remained closely involved in sport and served as vice-president of the Chinese Athletics Association. She was awarded the Olympic Orders of the International Olympic Committee in 1995 in recognition of her contribution to the Olympic movement and was selected as one of eight former Chinese athletes and coaches to carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. ■
