Who is the youngest athlete at the Paris 2024 Olympics? | Cricket News

11-year-old Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao is the youngest athlete to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 11-year-old from China will be the youngest athlete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Photo: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao is set to make history at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics as she becomes the youngest athlete to compete in the event. Zheng will be part of the Chinese women’s skateboarding team at the Paris Games and will be looking to make her country proud by taking home a medal.

She has already written her name in the record books by becoming the youngest Olympian in Chinese history at the age of 11. Zheng was an extraordinary talent and her skills were noticed by her parents and coaches at an early age. She started skateboarding at the age of seven and is now set to compete in her first Olympic Games four years later.

Zheng will attempt to break the all-time world record by becoming the youngest Olympic champion at this year’s Paris Games. The record is currently held by Denmark’s Inge Sorensen, who won gold in the 200m breaststroke at the age of 12 years and 24 days in 1938. Zheng can break the 86-year-old record if she finishes on top of the podium in Paris.

Who is Zheng Haohao: the youngest athlete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games?

Zheng, 11, is a skateboarder from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. She started skateboarding at the age of seven thanks to her exceptional athletic skills, which made her coaches notice her at an early age. She started training at a club run by Chen Wanqin, the father of Asian Games champion Chen Ye.

Her journey was anything but smooth, as a young Zheng suffered multiple injuries during training. But the support of her coaches and her parents helped her bounce back strong. In 2021, the head coach of the Guangdong provincial team noticed her talent, took her under his wing and trained her with the team.

Zheng made rapid progress and represented Guangdong in the Chinese National Games in the same year. She went on to win a gold medal in the women’s park skateboarding event at the 2022 Guangdong Provincial Games and make her international debut in 2023. There is no turning back for Zheng as she prepares for her Olympic debut in Paris.

Zheng qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics after impressing in qualifying series in Budapest and Shanghai. She is the youngest ever to represent China at the Olympics and hopes to make history for her country at the Games.

Zheng’s former coach Wei Naizhnag, who recruited her for the Guangdong provincial team, said that despite her young age, she was extremely focused and always learned quickly. She had incredible talent from a young age.

“She was very young, but very focused on skateboarding. If she couldn’t master a trick, she would immediately identify the problem and correct it quickly,” Wei said.