Talent beyond age
There are sports stories that go beyond achievements or medals. Sometimes a 12-year-old girl – who is still playing in parks and catching bugs – shows up at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore and changes the whole tournament.
That is exactly what Yu Zidi, a Chinese swimming prodigy, has just done. Not only did she surprise everyone with her outstanding performance, she also made the World Swimming Federation review its current regulations.
In the individual event, Zidi finished 4th in the 200m medley, just 0.06 seconds behind the bronze medal position.
Last night (July 31), she continued to rank 4th in the 200m butterfly final with a time of 2 minutes 06.43 seconds, only 0.31 seconds slower than the bronze medalist - Elizabeth Dekkers (Australia).
She was very close to the podium, thereby proving that her presence at the world championship was due to talent and nothing else.
Yu 's emergence is a reminder that talent knows no age . Sometimes, the swimming world sees the birth of a new star before the expected time.
Yu’s reward came when she won bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay – at just 12 years and 288 days old. Although she did not compete in the final, she was still awarded a medal for her contribution to the Chinese team in the semi-finals.
Yu’s appearance also created a storm of debate. “We never imagined that a 12-year-old could swim like this,” Brent Nowicki, CEO of World Aquatics, shared.
According to the regulations, the minimum age to compete is 14. Exception: if an athlete under 14 meets A standard, they are still allowed to participate.
Debate
Almost no one thought children could reach such strict standards, until Zidi did it in the Chinese National Championship.
“Our standards are so strict that I never thought a kid like that could achieve them,” Nowicki said.
He admitted that the Federation would have to review the regulations: “We will consider carefully whether to adjust them or whether they are fine now.”
The incident opened a debate that went beyond sports: Is it fair or ethical to let a young girl compete and train at such a high level?
How does it affect her physically and mentally? Is she truly ready, or is she being sucked into a system that is too harsh?
In China, Zidi's ability to compete is seen as a result of a sport that values achievement from an early age – where rewards extend beyond the athlete to the family.
However, the world thinks differently. “When I was 12, I was still playing in the park, catching insects and enjoying life,” David Popovici (Romania) – a world champion when he was 17 (now 20) – said of Yu.
“I just hope she has a good support team, because the road ahead is not easy.”
Compare
The comparisons are inevitable. Inge Sorensen won Olympic bronze in the 200m breaststroke in 1936 in Berlin at the age of 12 years and 24 days (that is, just 25 days earlier, when she was training for the event , she was 11 ).
Like Yu, Sorenseen's achievement has sparked controversy over minimum age and impact on children's health.
Sorensen later won several regional titles but was unable to compete in the Olympics again due to the world war.
Some other athletes such as Kyoko Iwasaki (Japan; Olympic gold medal at the age of 14 in 1992) or Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungary; Olympic gold medal at the age of 14 in 1988) had brilliant careers after a brilliant start.
However, in the modern era, the case of Ye Shiwen (China) is a reminder: winning the World Championship at the age of 15 and 2 gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, but then gradually falling behind, not achieving outstanding results in adulthood.
Every body is different. Every childhood is different. And that's the heart of the matter: Yu is still just a kid. An extraordinary kid, no doubt. But still a kid.
Yu was outstanding in Thursday night's final. She was just seconds away from the podium, but what she did was much more than a medal: she called the entire international competition system into question.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/yu-zidi-than-dong-trung-quoc-12-tuoi-thay-doi-boi-loi-the-gioi-2427583.html
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