Zheng tao swimmer biography of martin

Paralympic swimmer Zheng Tao, who has no arms, sat back in the water, clenched a towel between his teeth to support his body and waited for the starting cue.

When the race got underway, Zheng, dubbed the "finless flying fish" on Chinese social media, darted away and quickly took the lead, trailed by teammates Wang Lichao and Yuan Weiyi.

He breathed rhythmically as water splashed around, his feet kneading the water like propellers and his torso creating waves like an eel.

At the finish line, he dashed his head－the foremost part of his body when he swims－hard against the wall of the pool, setting a world record of 30.62 seconds at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Wang came second and Yuan was third.

The event－the men's 50m butterfly S5 final－took place on Aug 27 at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.

Zheng lifted his head out of the water to check confirmation of the time on the screen.

Then he let out a victory cry and raised his left foot into th