Many up-and-coming talents were showcased during the Paris Olympics 2024, with Chinese gymnast Zhou Yaqin emerging as one of the most remarkable.
Zhou, who was only eighteen, won a silver medal in the balancing beam competition, and her happy moment was captured on camera as she playfully bit into her medal on the podium. Her win won her hearts across the globe.
Fans recently got a sweet peek into Zhou’s life away from the mat when pictures of her quietly assisting her parents at their restaurant went viral. These photos showed Zhou’s humble demeanor despite her sudden rise to fame.
Zhou Yaqin, who placed second in the balance beam competition in Paris 2024 after Italian gymnasts Alice D’Amato and Manila Esposito, captivated hearts when she made a lighthearted effort to eat her medal, mimicking her rivals and producing a heartwarming and viral video.
Zhou has since gone viral once more, although it’s not related to the Olympics this time. She was spotted serving food at her family’s neighbourhood eatery in her home town of Hengyang, Hunan province, China, in a touching demonstration of humility. This charming moment, which highlights Zhou’s genuine personality, has captured social media attention again.
Zhou Yaqin: Who is she?
Zhou Yaqin began her gymnastics career at the age of eighteen, and already she has amassed an incredible collection of medals. Zhou started her adventure at the young age of three, demonstrating her devotion and skill from an early age. She specializes in the balance beam.
Zhou’s incredible gymnastics career has been nothing short of extraordinary. She continued to excel at the senior level, capturing gold at the World Championships and the National Games of China after taking home the solo gold in the balance beam at the 2020 Chinese Championships.
Her greatest moment came in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she qualified first, beating off the illustrious Simone Biles, and took home a silver medal (14.366), just shy of gold winner D’Amato’s score of 14.366. Remarkably, Zhou surpassed Biles once more, finishing sixth in the championship match. This was a pivotal point in her career.
Olympic debutante 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen, became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal when she defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in a thrilling final in Paris on Saturday (August 3).
She won’t be the last Chinese Olympic tennis champion, asserted China’s Xinhua News Agency in a burst of patriotic pride.
Praising the young tennis player, Xinhua said: “At 21, the gold could perhaps be the first of many medals for her at the Olympics, or it could be her last. However, one thing is for sure: the gold, and the inspiration that it will provide to young girls and boys back in her homeland, won’t be the last for China.”
Zheng’s victory completed a memorable week for China after Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen claimed the silver medal in the mixed doubles in tennis on Friday.
Though a new face in the Summer Games, Zheng had already proved her mettle. She was a finalist in the 2024 Australian Open, where she lost to the defending Aryna Sabalenka.
In the Paris Olympic final, she seemed the stronger contender. Zheng is the world No 7, her opponent Donna Vekic, 28, is No. 21.
Zheng also caused the biggest upset in the tournament beating the favourite and world No 1 Iga Swiatek In the semi-finals.
Moreover, she had the crowd behind her. A large Chinese contingent inside Roland Garros’s Court Philippe Chatrier cheered her on.
Vekic also had a good run. She advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon before competing in the Paris Olympics, where she defeated the US Open champion Coco Gauff.
Zheng, however, got the better of Vekic, defeating her in straight sets with the same powerful serves and groundstrokes she used to eliminate Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.
Serving for the match at 5-3, Zheng reached match points as Vekic drove a backhand wide. Zheng finished the match with a well-placed forehand winner before falling to her back with joy.
Poland’s Swiatek finished with the bronze medal after beating Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 on Friday. She snapped a selfie with Zheng and Vekic during the medal ceremony.
“To win a medal for Croatia was a lifelong dream,” the 28-year-old said. “I wanted gold but still so happy and so proud. She was better than me today and deserved it.”
China’s only other Olympic gold medal in tennis came in 2004 when Li Ting and Sun Tian-Tian won the women’s doubles in Athens.
Zheng’s aspirations
Zheng said she wanted to be a role model. “I always want to become one of the Asians that can inspire young kids and make them love tennis more, because tennis is such a great sport, especially for girls. You need to fight. You need to have strength. You need to be fast,” said Zheng, who signed several autographs for members of the crowd after the match. “After this gold medal, I feel, finally, I can play tennis more relaxed.”
She still has to match her idol, though. Zheng looks up to Li Na, the only Chinese player to win Grand Slam singles titles — at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open .
“I have always been jealous of history-makers like Li Na,” Zheng said. “No matter what, she’s always the first, because she’s the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam. And I now become the first Asian player to win Olympic gold. I made history, as well. However, I still have a long way to go, because winning a Grand Slam is always my dream.”
She also spoke about her parents, who introduced her to tennis when she was seven years old. Her mother left her her job when she was 12 to make sure she ate and slept properly. Her father always pushed her hard, making her practise even on the Chinese New Year, when “everybody rests. But me? There’s no day of rest.”
“My success is not only my success. A lot of that is coming from my parents,” Zheng said. “They teach me how to be disciplined. They teach me how to stay focused on your dream. They always believed in me.”
“This Olympic journey has not been easy,” she said. “But there is a strength holding me. I never give up.”
Zheng said, “I felt like I represented all of Chinese tennis, knowing the Chinese people were cheering for me. Winning the gold made all the hard work and struggles worthwhile,” reported Xinhua.
Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei, who tested positive for drugs, denies cheating, wins butterfly bronze, helps China finish third in 4x100m relay
Chinese Olympic champion Zhang Yufei has appealed to people to “look at the Chinese swimming team through an unbiased lens in response to the unfair treatment and criticism that Chinese swimmers are facing”, reports China’s Global Times.
Zhang, who was one of 23 Chinese athletes who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics, said on Saturday (July 27) that she and her teammates had been wrongly accused of doping and insisted that China would never allow any athlete to use performance-enhancing drugs, reports the New York Times.
China claims the athletes inadvertently ate contaminated hotel food, a claim reiterated by Zhang.
“I don’t think any athlete, Chinese or non-Chinese, would want to destroy the work they built up every day over the years on doping,” Zhang said in Paris on Saturday (July 27) in the first public comments by a member of the Chinese swimming team at the centre of the doping scandal, reported the Times.
Zhang wins two medals
Zhang, who won gold in the 200-metre butterfly at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, claimed two medals in Paris on Saturday. She picked up bronze in the 100-metre butterfly—an event in which she won silver in Tokyo—and helped China finish third in the 4×100-metre women’s freestyle relay.
Zhang, Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie and Wu Qingfeng clocked a time of 3 minutes 30.30 seconds in the 4×100-metre, setting a new Asian record.
Australia, nevertheless, won the women’s relay, keeping the crown they won in Tokyo, the team made up of Emma McKeon, Mollie O’Callaghan, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack.
The United States came second, with Simone Manuel, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Kate Douglass making up the team.
Chinese men finish fourth
The Chinese women fared better than the men who, after a strong start, finished fourth in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay. The United States won gold, with Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel on the team. Australia took silver and Italy bronze.
Pan Zhanle gave China a head start, chalking up 46.92 seconds in his leadoff split in the men’s relay, breaking the Olympic record for the men’s 100-metre freestyle. But the United States rallied and won the race in 3:09.28, retaining the crown they had won in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and defended in Tokyo.
“My performance was not good enough. If I had created a greater advantage, we could have reached the podium,” said Pan, the world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle.
China’s Zhang Yufei said on Sunday that she was satisfied with her bronze medal in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Paris Olympics, her second podium finish in the event. #Paris2024pic.twitter.com/IDZAFQ2UYM
Zhang, meanwhile, faced the Americans Torri Husk and Grethen Walsh also in the 200-metre butterfly. Huske won the race, and Walsh finished second, pushing Zhang to third place.
Seen weeping after the award ceremony, Zhang said, “Perhaps I’ve pushed myself too hard.” She added, “I did feel a lot of pressure, but I also believe in my own abilities and look forward to competing against strong opponents next time.”
Her hometown fans consoled her. The hashtag “#YufeiDon’tCry” surged to the top of Weibo’s trending list. “Don’t cry, Yufei! We’re so proud of you. You’re really, really good,” one Weibo user commented.
China concern over large number of drug tests
China is worked up over the intensive drug testing of Chinese athletes following doping allegations.
Zhang told the Xinhua News Agency that in the two months before the Paris Olympics, every athlete on the Chinese swimming team was tested 20 to 30 times, averaging three to four tests per person per week.
Some suspect the tests are affecting the athletes.
“Something must have gone awry with the athletes’ pre-competition training. Personally, I believe that seven doping tests in one day might have disrupted our Chinese swimming team,” highly decorated Olympic diver Gao Min wrote on Weibo.
Zhang appeals for understanding
Zhang appealed for understanding in an Olympic poolside interview after advancing to the semi-finals of the 100-metre butterfly.
“Before last year, and before the scandal broke out, I got along really well with competitors from other countries. Now at this Olympics, I’m really worried that my good friends will look at me differently, that they would be unwilling to compete with me or watch me compete,” she said.
“I’m even more worried that the French public would think that Chinese athletes do not deserve to compete at this stage, so I feel very misunderstood.”
China’s youngest Olympian Zheng Haohao is 11 years old
China’s youngest Olympian is an 11-year-old who was born on the penultimate day of the London 2012 Olympics. Zheng Haohao competed alongside Team GB’s teenage sensation, Sky Brown, in the women’s skateboarding park event in Paris, showcasing her skills. This outstanding accomplishment demonstrates the extraordinary youthful talent that is appearing on the international scene.
Zheng, who started skateboarding at age seven, became one of the youngest Olympians in history when she left France, demonstrating her extraordinary talent and potential at such a young age.
Despite an impressive best score of 63.19, Zheng finished 18th in the preliminary round and missed the final, which was won by Australia’s 14-year-old Arisa Trew.
The children are all okay.
Three adolescents won medals in skateboarding at the 2008 Summer Olympics, demonstrating the sport’s continued vitality and energy. Athletes Sky Brown, 16, and Kokona Hiraki, 15, of Japan, in particular, stood out as they replicated their podium placings from the previous Games, demonstrating their remarkable talent and consistency.
Dora Varella of Brazil, who is 23 years old, was the most experienced competitor in the skateboarding event, proving that sport knows no age limits. In the men’s division, Team GB’s 51-year-old Andy Macdonald showed this by winning eight gold medals at the X Games before rival Zheng was even born.
However, Macdonald’s experience was nothing compared to the oldest competitor at the Paris Games, 65-year-old Juan Antonio Jimenez of Spain, who was competing in the equestrian event.
Dimitrios Loundras, who was only 10 years old when he won a bronze medal for his gymnastics team at the 1896 Olympics. is the youngest confirmed Olympic participant.
In 1900, a Dutch youngster who was presumably no older than seven or eight years old might have broken Loundras’ record by coxing a boat in Paris, but his name is still unknown.
Marjorie Gesting of the United States, on the other hand, is the youngest female gold medallist in Summer Games history.
She was only 13 when she won the gold in the 3m springboard diving event in 1936.
China’s Qin Haiyang holds the world record in the 200 metres breaststroke, which he set at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. He swept to a 50, 100 and 200 metres treble in Fukuoka, becoming the first swimmer in history to win all three breaststroke events at a single edition of the championships.
Subsequently, at the 2023 Swimming World Cup, Qin won gold in all three breaststroke events (50m, 100m, and 200m) at all three World Cup legs, held in Berlin, Athens and Budapest.
Thanks to his scintillating performance, in 2023, Qin became the first Asian to be named the Male Swimmer of the Year by World Aquatics.
— Chris Labrusca (not an alt) (@christherebooot) July 27, 2024
Doping controversies
However, the 25-year-old swimming sensation will be among the Chinese swimmers swimming under a cloud in the Paris Olympics because of doping controversies,
He was allegedly among the 23 Chinese athletes allowed to compete in the Tokyo Games despite testing positive for a banned drug.
This was revealed in April 2024 following a joint investigation by the New York Times and the German television channel ARD.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) accepted China’s explanation that the kitchen at their hotel had been contaminated but promised to increase the level of testing of Chinese athletes competing in Paris.
Meanwhile, in June 2024, the New York Times further alleged that Qin, along with swimmers Wang Shun and Yang Junxuan, had also tested positive several years earlier for a different performance-enhancing drug but had escaped being publicly identified and suspended.
Unhappy competitors
The controversy has left several Olympic competitors in Paris unhappy with Wada’s handling of the affair.
Australian swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook, the former 200-metre world breaststroke record holder, said he was considering a poolside protest against the Chinese competitors in Paris.
Qin has accused American and European athletes of conspiring to distract Chinese athletes from their Olympic preparations.
“Some tricks aim to disrupt our preparation rhythm and destroy our psychological defence! But we are not afraid. When you have a clear conscience, you do not fear slander. The team is currently preparing at the established pace. My teammates and I will resist the pressure and win more medals to silence the sceptics!” he said.
After winning an amazing 6 kg of gold and $525,000 (RM2.32 million) in prize money in table tennis, China’s rising star Chen Meng is expected to be the highest-paid among the Chinese athletes who competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
With gold in the women’s singles and women’s team events, she had an incredible performance that earned her this substantial reward. According to China Business Daily, the majority of her bonus comes from real estate mogul Guo Bin, who is married to gold medallist Wang Nan from the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Guo Bin created news ahead of the women’s singles championship match when she promised the victor 6 kg of gold. Chen, 30, stepped up to the plate and won gold in the women’s singles and women’s team competitions at the last two Olympics, defeating her fellow countrywoman, Sun Yingsha.
Chen outperformed the top-seeded Sun in the 2024 Paris Olympics despite being the second seed competing. Her victory caps off an incredible career that included second-place finishes in the 2019 and 2023 World Championships and a victory in the 2020 Table Tennis World Cup.
Guo Bin and Wang Nan’s training centre fuels China’s historic sweep at Paris Olympics
Famous names in Chinese table tennis, Guo Bin, and Wang Nan, have made a major impact on the game by founding a top-notch training facility in Weihai City, Shandong province, which is frequently used by the national team.
China, displaying its supremacy, created history at the Paris Olympics by being the first country to win gold in all five table tennis categories: women’s singles, men’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s team, and women’s team. In the mixed doubles competition, which debuted at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, China lost to Japan surprisingly in the championship match.
