The 100-Meter Sprinter: At 36, I Race for My Country

My surname is Zhang, the Zhang in "arrogant." My given name is Zheng, the Zheng in "make something of yourself." Zhang Zheng.

At thirty-six, I started out at the Qinzhou 100-meter sprinter trials. From there, I became the only athlete from Jiuzhou to reach the 100-meter sprint final at the World Championships, and the first from Qinzhou to do so in the hundred-year history of the event.

"You've got to be kidding me. He's thirty-six and he's here to compete in the 100 meters?"

"Can he even run?"

"How old are 100-meter sprinters usually? Around twenty. Some are as young as seventeen or eighteen. It's rare to see anyone over twenty-five. And you're telling me there's a thirty-six-year-old sprinter?"

"He made it through the trials at thirty-six? Did he pay his way in?"

"It's rigged! There's definitely something shady going on! At thirty-six, I might believe he could compete in some other sport, but 100-meter sprinters usually retire at twenty-six or twenty-seven. At that age, they can't compete with the young ones."

Faced with doubts time and again, Zhang Zheng used his own legs to create one miracle after another.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.