11-year-old Zheng Haohao from Huizhou, Guangdong province will compete in the women's park event during the 2024 Olympics in Paris as the youngest player in China's skateboarding team.
Zheng narrowly secured a spot in the event in the Olympic Qualification Series hosted in Shanghai and Budapest.
Zheng started to practice skateboarding at the age of seven. "Somebody told me skateboarding was fun and I bought one. It is fun indeed," she said.
"I practiced painting and dancing, but these are too quiet. It's real fun when the skate board flies up."
Zheng fell countless times during training, hurting her teeth and legs, said Wang Zhe, Zheng's mother. Wang wanted her daughter to quit but the girl chose to persist.
"One cannot persist without enough enthusiasm," Wang said, adding the girl practices skateboarding after school almost every day. "She probably does have sporting talent, but she is self-disciplined and hard-working for sure."
