It’s 7 p.m. on Sept. 9, and marathon runner Zhang Shuihua — the “fastest nurse in China” — is training with her clubmates on the track of the Fuzhou Strait Olympic Sports Center. The temperature is a sweltering 32 degrees Celsius, with nearly 70% humidity, yet she’s hardly broken a sweat.

Zhang has also had to endure a different kind of heat since her controversial post-race comments at the Harbin Marathon late last month.

At the finish line, after smashing her personal best and claiming the domestic women’s title with a time of 2:35:27, a tearful Zhang appeared to complain about her supervisors at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University for not allowing her to adjust her shifts to compete in weekend races.

“I don’t need my boss to give me special holidays,” she tells an interviewer in footage that’s now been viewed millions of times. “I just want my boss to support me changing shifts on the weekend. It’s just about switching shifts, not asking for leave.”

What followed was a whirlwind of abuse, judgment, and rumors, not only costing the 34-year-old athlete an important sponsorship deal but also clouding the real person at the eye of the storm.

Out of control

Zhang’s husband, Wang Ke, was the first to sense something was wrong after the Harbin race. Reactions to Zhang’s remarks were initially mixed, but then things spiraled out of control, he says. It quickly became a social media pile-on, with many netizens “siding with her boss,” while others exposed her personal information online. Some also directed their ire at her sponsor, the Chinese sportswear brand 361 Degrees.

“She pockets the marathon prize money but causes trouble for her hospital colleagues,” wrote one critic. “Isn’t the other nurses’ time valuable? They have no obligation to support your hobby,” added another.

A social media post by Zhang in March in which she claimed to be “resting every day” was reshared widely as evidence that she was putting extra strain on her colleagues, although by “resting” she had meant taking a break from training.

Meanwhile, a person claiming to be a former intern at Zhang’s hospital began spreading allegations that she had “bullied” other nurses into covering her shifts so she could compete in races. On closer inspection, it was pointed out that the accuser’s ID badge appeared to be a crude fake.

Zhang was completely unaware of the controversy until she had dinner with her husband and several friends after the marathon in Harbin, capital of the northeastern Heilongjiang province.

Later, she would publicly state that the online abuse “has barely affected me,” but in reality she was tormented. Wang says she would send him screenshots of some of the worst accusations and insults.

By contrast, her colleagues and the hospital leadership had been showering Zhang with messages of support. “We all love you and we’re all cheering you on. Don’t let the online chatter stress you out,” read one note. Another offered a well-intentioned warning, “Don’t wear your usual athletic clothes to work. Just wear something regular with a hat and a mask. Your running gear is so recognizable that people can spot you from behind.”

To address the critics, Wang opened a new account on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on Sept. 2 and posted footage from an interview he’d done with The Beijing News to explain his wife’s work schedule and about what she’d intended to convey after the Harbin race. He enabled the comments function and replied to as many as he could, ignoring the most profane.

One day later, 361 Degrees announced it was terminating its sponsorship contract with Zhang.

Zhang eventually issued an apology via Douyin on Sept. 21, saying she felt “deeply uneasy and guilty” about the chaos her comments had caused, and the effect it had had on the reputations of her hospital and the Harbin Marathon.

“She needed an outlet”

Like most elite marathon runners, Zhang is lean and wiry, with well-defined muscles. Standing just over 1.6 meters tall, she’s lost more than 5 kilograms since she started running about eight years ago.

She met her husband through her hobby, and it was Wang who first recognized her natural talent for long-distance running. In 2019, he noticed that she was placing in the top 10 of minor-level marathons despite barely any structured training.

An average person’s resting heart rate ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute, but Zhang’s was already 40, and after starting proper training, it fell to 30 — proof of her heart’s exceptional pumping capacity. Her blood pressure sits between 40 and 80 mmHg, which for most would require medication for dizziness. “Her physical constitution is very similar to that of a professional athlete,” Wang says.

To ensure his wife reached her potential, Wang became her coach, training partner, and de facto manager, as well as took on laundry, cooking, and child care duties at their home in Fuzhou, capital of the eastern Fujian province.

Zhang went on to achieve impressive results. In the 2023 Harbin Marathon, she finished in two hours and 40 minutes, and her hospital dubbed her the “fastest angel in white.” After consistent displays in subsequent races, 361 Degrees got in touch.

However, in 2024, Zhang appeared to hit a hurdle. Training in the punishing summer heat, the physical strain began to take its toll on her mental state, and she even considered quitting the sport. Wang recalls that, during a self-enforced break from training, his wife became less talkative and more irritable.

The day she decided to get back on the track, she simply changed into her gear and rode her electric bike to the stadium. She set a new goal: the 2025 Shenyang Marathon, in the northeastern Liaoning province. “Once she has a goal and is training systematically, she achieves results, and that sense of accomplishment brings her happiness,” Wang explains.

A gastrointestinal issue early this year meant her performances remained sluggish, but by April she was feeling ready for a serious training block.

However, Wang was concerned that pushing Zhang in the southern heat could cause her to burn out again. So, although the weather and course weren’t ideal, they settled on entering the Harbin Marathon to test her progress and boost her morale.

“After pouring so much of herself into the training, Zhang was desperate to prove herself,” Wang says. “She needed an outlet for all the bottled-up frustration and hardship, and she craved public understanding and support.”

A grudge resurfaces?

Wang says that they had discussed the possibility of Zhang quitting nursing to run full time, but at that point the sponsorship money wasn’t enough to cover their daily living expenses. “It barely paid for competing,” he says.

The life of a professional athlete can also be unstable and unpredictable. A bout of flu or minor injury can derail them for months, while a serious injury can end their career entirely.

Yet, more than that, Zhang genuinely loves being a nurse. Wang says that when the pandemic began in 2020, she immediately volunteered as a member of the first medical team from Fujian sent to support medics in Yichang, one of the worst-hit cities in the central Hubei province.

Later, when she was preparing for the examination to become a charge nurse, she stopped running for nearly six months to focus on her studies. “In her mind, there has always been a clear sense of priorities,” Wang says. “If it ever came down to a choice between her job and running, she’d choose work without hesitation.”

Since the controversy, many people have questioned how Zhang could have the energy for work when she runs 400 kilometers a month. She argues that her hobby doesn’t detract from her job — it actually improves her performance. That’s why she usually schedules training before her shifts, so that she can stay alert, even through an all-night rotation.

“People who don’t run might think it’s torture, but I believe if they tried it and stuck with it for a while, they might change their minds,” she says.

Evidence also suggests that Zhang’s participation in marathons has rarely conflicted with her shifts. This year, she’s competed in 10 races, six of which were on weekends in March. Hospital records provided by an informed source show that the head nurse did not assign Zhang any weekend shifts that month.

For the Harbin race, held on Sunday, Aug. 31, Zhang’s last shift finished at 8 a.m. the Friday before, and her next scheduled shift was the following Tuesday.

Regarding her remarks at the finish line, Wang concedes they were ill-considered. Her clubmate Lin Xing was also surprised, but says Zhang can be emotionally tone deaf at times. “She never minces words,” he says. “She’s blunt, and often on a completely different wavelength from the rest of us. She’s a phenom, that’s all.”

Sources at Zhang’s hospital suggested her comments may have stemmed from an old conflict. A former nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recalls that when Zhang first took up running, the head nurse in her department — who has since been transferred — was unsupportive.

“My guess is that Zhang lost control and said those things because of what happened back then,” the former nurse says. “The current head nurse is kind, has an excellent reputation among the nurses, and is incredibly supportive.”

The hospital has so far declined to comment, leaving netizens’ questions about whether Zhang sought preferential treatment or burdened her team without an authoritative answer.

State of mind

The vitriol facing Zhang unfortunately spilled over onto those around her. When friends, colleagues, or clubmates left her supportive comments online, trolls would often bombard them with abuse.

“Why do people automatically assume that if you’re good at your hobby, you must be failing at your job and your life?” one running club member asked bluntly.

Zhu Wei, an associate professor at the China University of Political Science and Law who works with victims of cyberbullying, says that while rational discussion is acceptable, insults and fabricating rumors constitute online abuse. However, while China has legislated on the issue, it remains difficult to curb.

The media storm around Zhang’s remarks has gradually subsided, but the incident may leave a lasting scar on her career. With all the attention, she ultimately decided to pull out of the Shenyang Marathon, which was held Sept. 14.

Wang says he hopes the kind of toxic online behavior that his family has faced will stop, as it has the power to crush a person. Yet, for Zhang, the torrent of criticism has served as a wake-up call.

“I need to reflect on myself,” she says. “In the end, you have to face up to things. I hope I can earn a second chance — not just to improve, but to learn from society how to conduct myself better.”

She also has no intention of quitting running. “I love it,” she adds. “I’d do it even without sponsorship or prize money. The sport puts me in a wonderful state of mind.”

Reported by Guo Yimeng and Liu Jinhan.

A version of this article originally appeared in The Beijing News. It has been translated and edited for brevity and clarity, and is republished here with permission.

Translator: Chen Yue; editors: Wang Juyi and Hao Qibao.

(Header image: A photo of Zhang Shuihua. Courtesy of the interviewees)