.The scene in the stands at Roland Garrosu00e2 $ s Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier was actually populated with vermillion banners, adding a glow to the currently orangey sky rising off the red clay court.These were Chinese flagsu00e2 $" dozens themu00e2 $" swaying in boisterous support for Qinwen Zheng, 21, that would certainly quickly take gold through beating Croatiau00e2 $ s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the womenu00e2 $ s songs tennis final.As she set on the dust, eyes skyward as well as fists stretched in to the Paris haze, the winu00e2 $ s gravitation appeared to sign up: Zheng had merely built the sort of background that prolonged much past the stadium as well as the second. This was actually Chinau00e2 $ s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sportu00e2 $" and also Zheng had made obvious of the reality that the Olympics were actually as, or even even more, vital to her than a Grand Slam.Zheng celebrates her Olympic success on August 3.Image: Getty Imagesu00e2 $ In China, our company regularly think a countryu00e2 $ s respect is in face of personal excellence, u00e2 $ she mentioned over an early morning meeting at Nikeu00e2 $ s Athlete Residence, put inconspicuously between the Stade de France as well as the Aquatics Centre in Parisu00e2 $ s St. Denis area, the time after her conquest. u00e2 $ I alleviated [the Video games] differentlyu00e2 $" the feeling, the fight, the mentality: It experienced different than every other event Iu00e2 $ ve played.u00e2 $ Birthed in 2002 in Shiyan, China, Zheng began participating in ping pong at grow older seven. At grow older 8, she moved, without her mama and papa, to Wuhan for better mentoring, and also given that adolescence she has heavily admired as well as emulated Mandarin professional athletes, like the ping pong superstar Li Na as well as the runner Liu Xiang, that gained gold at the 2004 Athens Games.u00e2 $ It was actually definitely hard, u00e2 $ Zheng mentioned, looking back at those early times. u00e2 $ My mom used to find check out on weekend breaks. When she left behind, I would certainly secure her leg and also cry. When she was gone, I would certainly always keep her coat. This was actually until I was actually 13. After thirteen, my mother decided to stop her task and come stay with me permanent, simply to possess much better growth as well as better care. Afterwards, it acquired simpler. And also our experts transferred to Europe when I was actually 17. u00e2 $.