.The scene in the stands at Roland Garrosu00e2 $ s Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier was actually dotted along with vermillion streamers, incorporating a glow to the presently orangey sky emanating off the reddish clay court.These were actually Chinese flagsu00e2 $" thousands of themu00e2 $" swaying in boisterous support for Qinwen Zheng, 21, that will very soon take gold through beating Croatiau00e2 $ s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the womenu00e2 $ s songs ping pong final.As she put down on the gunk, eyes skyward and also fists expanded in to the Paris fog, the winu00e2 $ s gravitation seemed to be to enroll: Zheng had actually only built the type of past history that prolonged much past the arena and also the moment. This was Chinau00e2 $ s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sportu00e2 $" and also Zheng had made no secret of the truth that the Olympics were actually as, otherwise additional, important to her than a Grand Slam.Zheng celebrates her Olympic victory on August 3.Image: Getty Imagesu00e2 $ In China, our company consistently strongly believe a countryu00e2 $ s honor resides in face of individual success, u00e2 $ she stated over an early morning conference at Nikeu00e2 $ s Professional athlete House, tucked discreetly between the Stade de France and the Aquatics Centre in Parisu00e2 $ s St. Denis place, the day after her conquest. u00e2 $ I treated [the Video games] differentlyu00e2 $" the emotion, the battle, the mindset: It felt various than intermittent competition Iu00e2 $ ve played.u00e2 $ Born in 2002 in Shiyan, China, Zheng began participating in ping pong at age 7. At age eight, she moved, without her mother as well as papa, to Wuhan for far better training, and also considering that teenage years she has actually deeply marvelled at as well as mimicked Mandarin professional athletes, like the ping pong celebrity Li Na and the jogger Liu Xiang, who won gold at the 2004 Athens Games.u00e2 $ It was actually really difficult, u00e2 $ Zheng stated, looking back at those early days. u00e2 $ My mother used to follow see on weekend breaks. When she left, I would certainly secure her lower leg and also cry. When she was actually gone, I would always hold her coat. This was actually until I was thirteen. After thirteen, my mommy decided to stop her job as well as happen remain with me full time, just to have much better development and better treatment. Afterwards, it acquired less complicated. And our company transferred to Europe when I was 17. u00e2 $.