11-year-old Chinese skateboarder debuts at the Olympics
2024-08-07
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Paris, August 6 (China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Liang Xuan) Zheng Haohao, who just graduated from primary school and went to participate in the Olympics, has a "magical" summer vacation. Today, the women's skateboarding bowl pool preliminaries of the Paris Olympics were held at the Place de la Concorde. All 22 contestants were born after 2000, and the youngest was Zheng Haohao, who was born in 2012. As the youngest athlete in the Paris Olympics, this Chinese girl received cheers and applause as soon as she appeared on the stage.
The athletes were divided into four groups. After three rounds of skating, the top eight entered the finals. Zheng Haohao appeared in the second group. She fell twice in three rounds of skating. The 63.19 points in the first round were not enough for her to enter the finals. In the end, she ranked 18th and ended her first Olympic journey. "I learned a lot from this competition. The other players' technical movements were very powerful and flew very high." Zheng Haohao said.
Carrying the skateboard out of the bowl pool, Zheng Haohao shook his head and simply expressed his feelings at the moment to his foreign coach Danny Wainwright. There was no strong emotional ups and downs, and he did not regard the consecutive falls in the Olympic arena as "a serious matter". He said, "Just learn from the lesson and keep skating."
After the game, in the mixed interview area, Zheng Haohao was holding a doll in her hand, smiling without paying attention to the wounds and bruises on her cheeks. "Do you think she looks depressed?" Danny pointed at Zheng Haohao and said to the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network, "The word 'nervous' is not in her dictionary. She is having a lot of fun."
Even though it is the Olympics, Danny hopes Zheng can keep enjoying skateboarding. "For many people, it is not easy to relax. They have high hopes for themselves, and the slightest mistake will lead to greater disappointment. But in our opinion, as long as you work hard, no one will lose. If the result is not good, you can be proud of the hard work."
Young, small, and not as strong as other skaters, "this is Zheng Haohao at this stage." After six months of getting along with her, Danny saw the potential of this 11-year-old girl as an excellent skater. "She is smart and strong, talented and courageous, and can quickly unlock many big tricks. In time, she can do better."
Knowing that her daughter was active since she was young and "prefers to walk on bumpy roads", her mother Wang Zhe chose a skateboard as Zheng Haohao's 7th birthday gift. "It's new and exciting, and I got into it right away." Zheng Haohao told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that she suffered many injuries while practicing skateboarding, but she never thought of giving up.
Half a month after the 2021 National Games, she fell from a high place in the bowl while challenging a difficult move. When she supported herself on the ground, one of her fingers was broken and one of her fingernails was peeled off on the spot. "At that time, I was worried whether the nail would grow out and whether it would affect my participation in future competitions. But then I thought, my foot is not broken, so it won't affect my skateboarding."
Before long, Zheng Haohao mastered the move that injured her. "The 360-degree backward slide is now considered my signature move."
Wang Zhe often was surprised by the strength and concentration of his daughter inspired by skateboarding. In the women's bowl pool competition of the Paris Olympic Qualification Series (Budapest Station) held in July this year, Zheng Haohao had only one skate left to determine whether she would qualify for the Olympics. Wang Zhe found that while all the athletes were warming up nervously, Zheng Haohao was attracted by the promotional video on the big screen and actually stood there for two minutes to watch it.
At the beginning of the competition, Zheng Haohao gave it her all and successfully completed two difficult moves, winning a ticket to the Paris Olympics with her points at the last minute. "The 45 seconds she spent skating down the bowl pool were almost the longest 45 seconds in my life," said Wang Zhe.
Although her Olympic journey has ended, for Zheng Haohao, having the opportunity to participate in the Olympics is "a very fulfilling thing". "Everyone is very good, and I made a lot of friends."
(Source: China Youth Daily)
