Xie Zhenye, who turns 31 in August, may become the first Chinese sprinter to participate in four straight editions of Summer Olympic Games after securing qualification for the men's 200-meter and the men's 4x100-meter relay events at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

As one of the greatest sprinters in today's China, Xie's career has always been a combination of both setbacks and breakthroughs that often happened next to each other. For example, he suffered a serious hip fracture when he was 16 in 2009. His coach even suggested that he go back to school. However, one year later, Xie won the men's 200-meter gold medal in 21.22 seconds for China at the Youth Summer Olympics in Singapore.

Similar moments have continued to repeat themselves with Xie since then. He made his Olympic debut before turning 19 in London in 2012, broke the men's 200-meter domestic record and the men's 4x100-meter replay Asian record at 21 and secured the 4x100-meter silver with the best Asian performance at the World Championships in Athletics in Beijing in 2015.

Nonetheless, Xie failed to reach the men's 200-meter final at both the Asian Games in 2014 and the World Championships in 2015. Then he set the new Chinese record for the men's 100-meter event in 9.97 seconds in 2017 and the new Asian record for the men's 200-meter race in 19.88 seconds in 2018, right before having to quit the Asian Games in 2018 due to injury.

Xie went through similar twists at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 as well. He finished the men's 100-meter preliminary in 10.16 seconds and failed to advance to the next stage. However, later he became the first Chinese sprinter to reach the men's 200-meter semifinals at the Olympics in Tokyo.

Xie found encouragement from his teammate Su Bingtian, who made the men's 100-meter final in 9.83 seconds.

"I didn't run well in my race, but hearing the exciting news of my teammate was great encouragement and improvement of my confidence," Xie told China media Group (CMG). "At that moment I knew someone else could do it, which gave me confidence to stick to what I do."

Xie decided to change his running style after the Tokyo Olympics and it wasn't easy, especially for an athlete in his age. Nonetheless, he did it and won his first Asian Games individual gold medal by finishing the men's 100-meter event in 9.97 seconds in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, in 2023.

"I think the Asian Games is a period to me. It's not perfect, but it's an end," Xie told CMG. "It's more than realizing an Asian Games dream. In my career, I have participated in the Asian Games, the Olympics, the World Championships among other domestic and international tournaments and I have accomplished something."

"In my age now, I think it's a process to let many things go," Xie added. "I used to work hard for the results, but now that the period is written, I just want to enjoy and display the process."