Don't call me a genius

12-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi from China once again caused a stir, finishing fourth overall in the women's 200m individual medley final at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

Yu Zidi is causing a stir with unbelievable achievements at the age of 12 - Photo: Reuters

Despite missing the medal, Yu Zidi has been called a "genius" by experts and the world press. And many people predict that she will become a big star of the green track in the future. However, when answering the press, Yu Zidi refused the title of genius that everyone called her.

"People call me a genius? No. Not really. It's all the result of hard work. My original goal was simply to try my best and get a spot on the podium," Yu Zidi told Xinhua.

Even though I thought it might be out of my reach, I wanted to give it a try. I came very close today and I will continue to work hard when I come back."

As a primary school student and making her international debut, Yu Zidi showed incredible composure and progress in all three rounds of the 200m individual medley.

She improved her qualifying time from 2 minutes 11.9 seconds to 2 minutes 10.22 seconds in the semi-finals. She then achieved her personal best in the final with a time of 2 minutes 9.21 seconds.

This young swimmer's achievement was only 0.06 seconds behind the bronze medal of Mary-Sophie Harvey, Canada (2 minutes 9.15 seconds).

Evaluating his overall performance, Yu Zidi said: "I can't say I'm completely satisfied. But this is okay. I need to continue working hard. My breaststroke technique still needs a lot of practice. That's definitely something I'll focus on improving in the upcoming training."

Yu Zidi still has two events left to compete at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships: the 200m butterfly and the 400m individual medley. If he steps onto the podium in these events, Yu Zidi will become the youngest swimmer in history to win a medal.

Yu Zidi previously made headlines at the 2025 Chinese Swimming Championships, where she won silver in 2 minutes 10.63 seconds, the fastest time ever recorded by a 12-year-old.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dung-goi-toi-la-thien-tai-20250730100741619.htm