Nina Schultz, China's first naturalized track and field athlete, will finally be able to attend international competitions on behalf of her country after April 12. Her grandmother, Zheng Fengrong, was a legend in Chinese sports history as the first female Chinese athlete to break a world record.

Schultz finished her last appearance for Canada in 2018 before applying for Chinese citizenship. According to the relevant rules of World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field, a naturalized athlete cannot compete on behalf of a new country within three years of receiving their new nationality. That's why it had been assumed that Schultz would miss the Tokyo Olympics.

However, since the Olympic Games were postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schultz's chance has come. She can participate in the women's heptathlon in Tokyo as long as she scores the entry standard of 6,420 points before June.

In March, Schultz attended an indoor track and field invitational in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, on behalf of Shanxi Province. She was runner-up in the high jump after clearing 1.84 meters. "I know I can do better," said Schultz after the competition.

She also participated in the shot put, but her real event is the heptathlon, which she started to work on after entering college. Back in 2018, Schultz represented Canada in the Commonwealth Games in heptathlon and won the silver medal with 6,133 points. The gold medalist was Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who also won the title at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

That's why when Chinese track and field fans learned about Schultz's naturalization, they knew China had gotten a rising star for heptathlon.

"My wish is to attend the Tokyo Olympics on behalf of China and win a medal, if I can," said Schultz in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.