Zheng Tao (Chinese: 郑涛, born 26 December 1990) is a Chinese para swimmer and five-time Paralympic champion. He is known as the "armless swimmer".[2] He made a world record by winning 4 gold medals in Tokyo 2020 Paralympic.
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| Nickname | armless swimmer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 26 December 1990 Kunming City, China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Yang Meili[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other interests | Fishing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Limb deficiency (Acquired) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | S5/SB6/SM5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Yunnan Province [Kunming, CHN] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Zhang, Honghu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life edit
Zheng lost his arms due to an electric shock when he was a child.[1]
Swimming career edit
In 2004 Zheng took up the sport of Swimming and in 2010 he made his international swimming debut when Zheng represented China at the World Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands.[1]
Zheng competed in his first Paralympic Games at the 2012 London Paralympics, where he won the gold medal in a close race in the 100m backstroke S6 final.[2]
At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, he suffered a lower back injury but still won the gold medal at the Men's 100 metre backstroke S6 event with a world record of 1:10.84, two seconds faster than the previous record, which was established by himself in 2015.[2] He then caught the stomach flu on the day of the 50-metre butterfly S6 final, and lost to his teammate Xu Qing, winning a silver medal in the event.[2]
At the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, he won the gold medal at the Men's Butterfly S5 event with a world record of 30.62, the gold medal at the Men's Backstroke S5 event with a world record of 31.42 and the gold medal at the 50m Freestyle S5. He also won the gold medal at the Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay - 20 Points.
References edit
- ^ a b c "Swimming: ZHENG Tao". Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
Date of Birth: 25 Dec 1990, Place of birth: KUNMING
- ^ a b c d Feng, Sophia (28 December 2016). "Zheng vows to only swim for pleasure in 2017". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
External links edit
- Zheng Tao at the International Paralympic Committee
- Zheng Tao at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
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