.The scene in the platforms at Roland Garrosu00e2 $ s Courthouse Philippe-Chatrier was actually dotted along with vermillion streamers, including a glow to the currently orangey sky emanating off the reddish clay court.These were Mandarin flagsu00e2 $" thousands of themu00e2 $" swing in loud assistance for Qinwen Zheng, 21, that will soon take gold through beating Croatiau00e2 $ s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the womenu00e2 $ s single people ping pong final.As she put down on the gunk, eyes skyward and also fists prolonged right into the Paris fog, the winu00e2 $ s gravitational force seemed to be to enroll: Zheng had merely forged the kind of history that expanded far past the coliseum and also the instant. This was Chinau00e2 $ s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sportu00e2 $" and Zheng had created no secret of the fact that the Olympics were as, or even additional, essential to her than a Grand Slam.Zheng commemorates her Olympic success on August 3.Photograph: Getty Imagesu00e2 $ In China, our company regularly think a countryu00e2 $ s respect resides in front end of private results, u00e2 $ she stated over a morning meeting at Nikeu00e2 $ s Professional athlete House, put discreetly in between the Stade de France as well as the Aquatics Centre in Parisu00e2 $ s St. Denis place, the time after her victory. u00e2 $ I treated [the Games] differentlyu00e2 $" the emotion, the match, the way of thinking: It felt various than intermittent competition Iu00e2 $ ve played.u00e2 $ Born in 2002 in Shiyan, China, Zheng began participating in ping pong at grow older 7. At age eight, she relocated, without her mama and also father, to Wuhan for much better training, and also given that teenage years she has heavily marvelled at and mimicked Mandarin sportsmens, like the ping pong star Li Na and also the runner Liu Xiang, that gained gold at the 2004 Athens Games.u00e2 $ It was actually definitely hard, u00e2 $ Zheng stated, recalling at those early days. u00e2 $ My mother made use of to find see on weekend breaks. When she left behind, I will secure her leg and cry. When she was actually gone, I will consistently store her coat. This was up until I was actually thirteen. After 13, my mom chose to stop her project and also happen stick with me permanent, only to have better development and much better care. After that, it got much easier. As well as our experts moved to Europe when I was 17. u00e2 $.