Zheng leaps into history

In the winter of 1953, a powerful jump from a Chinese woman attracted world attention.

Twenty-year-old Chinese athlete Zheng Fengrong shattered the women's high jump world record with a leap of 1.77 metres in a Beijing athletic meet on November 17, 1957.

The new record, the first women's world record for the People's Republic of China, was one centimetre higher than the old mark held by American Mildred McDaniel .

The jump also made Zheng the first Asian athlete to break a world track and field record since 1936.

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The record jump, although by a tiny margin, was described by the foreign media as "an explosive jump" because it generated China's first athletic world record.

Dubbed " a spring swallow awakening Chinese sports, " Zheng sent a message to the world that China was Nolonger the "sick man of the East. "

Born in the spring city of Jinan, Shandong Province, Zheng, who stands at 1.70 metres, has a good physique and a skillful scissor----sharp jump which was seldom seen among top jumpers in the world.

She once leapt 1.78 metres, a national record in 1963.

She claimed a well-merited place in sporting history when her achievement was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records .

Due to her contribution to athletics, Zheng was awarded a series of honours. She was named among the nation's greatest athletes in 1984.