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Original title: Zheng Haohao, the youngest athlete realizes a big dream

At noon on August 6, local time in Paris, the women's bowl pool preliminaries of the Paris Olympics were held at the Place de la Concorde. Chinese athlete Zheng Haohao finally scored 63.19 points, ranked 18th, and failed to advance to the finals. At 11 years and 360 days old, Zheng Haohao is the youngest athlete in all delegations of this Olympics. "I am very excited to be on the Olympic stage, but I don't feel nervous. I just need to perform at my best. I actually have no regrets." Zheng Haohao said after leaving the stadium.

Zheng Haohao successfully completed the first round of the three-round competition, but fell on the field in the next two rounds due to mistakes. "I fell and hurt my face on the first day of practice, so I couldn't continue the training. This affected one of the movements and I didn't practice it well. I feel a little regretful."

The wound on Zheng Haohao's cheek has scabbed over and there is a little bruise. After practicing skateboarding for 4 years, the girl has experienced many injuries. "The most serious one was a fall that injured the middle finger of my right hand. I had only been practicing skateboarding for two or three years at the time, so I wasn't afraid of what would happen if I got injured. I was mainly worried that it would affect my participation in big competitions like the Olympics." Since then, Zheng Haohao has dreamed of participating in the Olympics. It was not until June of this year that she got a ticket to the Paris Olympics in Budapest. The first trip to the Olympics also allowed Zheng Haohao to see the gap between herself and her opponents. "They are very powerful, fly very high, and have a very large range of movements. In comparison, my movements feel small, and I fly very low."

On August 11, Zheng Haohao will celebrate her 12th birthday. After the competition, Zheng Haohao will return to China without stopping, as there is another competition in Italy in September waiting for her.

"For me, skateboarding is just fun and I can make a lot of friends." Zheng Haohao, 11, is still playful and likes to drink. When answering questions, he also fiddles with the badge on his lanyard. "Before the competition started, I was still chatting with my classmates. They are also proud that I can stand on the Olympic stage." (Chen Chenxi Liu Shuoyang)

(People's Daily)