Nina Schultz
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Nina Li Schultz | |||||||||||
| Nationality | Chinese | |||||||||||
| Born | November 12, 1998 New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada | |||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1] | |||||||||||
| Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Track | |||||||||||
| Event(s) | Heptathlon Pentathlon | |||||||||||
| College team | Kansas State University University of Georgia | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | Heptathlon: 6133, Gold Coast, 2018 Pentathlon: 4502, Lubbock, 2018[2] | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Nina Schultz (Chinese: 郑妮娜力; pinyin: Zhèng Nīnàlì; born 12 November 1998), is a Chinese track athlete who competes in the heptathlon and pentathlon. She was a Canadian citizen at birth and previously competed for Canada.
Career
Schultz began training in athletics from a young age, and set a junior record in the indoor pentathlon in 2017 prior to being accepted to Kansas State University on a track scholarship.[3] In her debut season in university athletics, Schultz won the bronze medal in the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships' pentathlon event. At the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships, she won the silver medal. At the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships she placed 7th in the Heptathlon scoring 5,778 points.
Schultz competed as part of the Canadian team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia. She was the youngest member of the Canadian track and field team. In the heptathlon event, she set a new personal best of 6133 points and won the silver medal, finishing 122 points behind gold medalist Katarina Johnson-Thompson of England.[4]
Change of Allegiance from Canada to China
Schultz became one of a handful of Naturalized athletes of China; World Athletics confirmed her eligibility to be a competing member of China's national team on 12 April, 2021, after having renounced her Canadian citizenship and acquired Chinese citizenship by naturalization.[5] She also stated that she hoped to compete for China in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
Response
Schultz did not provide a comment to Canadian media in regard to the change but did comment to a Chinese newspaper that "I came here not out of a sudden impulse, but because I always wanted to fulfill my grandmother’s dream."[5] At the same time Schultz stopped competing for her NCAA Kansas State University and University of Georgia college teams. She had told Petros Kyprianou, her Georgia team coach that "she just wanted to move on from the NCAA and be a professional athlete. That’s all [he knew].”[5]
The Chinese press quoted her maternal grandmother Zheng Fengrong (郑凤荣), is a celebrated athlete in China and in 1957 set the Women's World Record in High Jump 1.77m.[6] She had set an good example to Nina Schultz and her brother Ty (Zheng Enlai 郑恩来), a hockey player in Canada, as a Chinese citizen to compete in the Games of the New Emerging Forces representing China.[7] It was Zheng's utmost wish to see both of her grandchildren compete in the Olympics representing China and she was very happy to see her dream come true.[8]
References
- ^ "2018 Gold Coast profile". 2018 Commonwealth Games. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
- ^ "IAAF Profile". IAAF. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
- ^ Vicki Hall (2017-01-31). "The next Brianne Theisen-Eaton? Canadian teenager Nina Schultz vies for heptathlon greatness". National Post.
- ^ "Schultz comes up silver at Gold Coast". Bring On The Cats. 2018-04-13. Archived from the original on 2018-04-15. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
- ^ a b c "Rising Canadian athlete switches citizenship, hoping to compete for China in Tokyo Olympics". The National Post. April 1, 2021.
- ^ White, Johnathan (5 April 2021). "Tokyo 2020: China's Nina Schultz aiming to fulfil grandma's Olympic dream". SCMP. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
- ^ "加拿大體壇兄妹共入中國籍，其姥姥背景深厚，曾獲毛主席親自接見". 番茄資訊. February 18, 2021.
- ^ "加拿大出生的姑娘成中国田径首个归化运动员". 加国无忧. March 22, 2021.
