.The scene in the stands at Roland Garrosu00e2 $ s Court Philippe-Chatrier was populated along with vermillion streamers, including a radiance to the currently orangey sky emanating off the red clay-based court.These were Chinese flagsu00e2 $" thousands of themu00e2 $" swaying in boisterous assistance for Qinwen Zheng, 21, who will quickly take gold through defeating Croatiau00e2 $ s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the womenu00e2 $ s singles tennis final.As she set on the gunk, eyes skyward as well as fists stretched into the Paris haze, the winu00e2 $ s gravity appeared to sign up: Zheng had actually simply created the type of past that stretched much past the stadium and the minute. This was Chinau00e2 $ s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sportu00e2 $" and Zheng had made obvious of the simple fact that the Olympics were as, if not additional, crucial to her than a Grand Slam.Zheng celebrates her Olympic triumph on August 3.Photo: Getty Imagesu00e2 $ In China, our experts constantly believe a countryu00e2 $ s honor is in front of individual excellence, u00e2 $ she pointed out over an early morning conference at Nikeu00e2 $ s Sportsmen House, tucked inconspicuously between the Stade de France as well as the Aquatics Centre in Parisu00e2 $ s St. Denis location, the time after her victory. u00e2 $ I managed [the Games] differentlyu00e2 $" the feeling, the fight, the mentality: It felt various than intermittent tournament Iu00e2 $ ve played.u00e2 $ Birthed in 2002 in Shiyan, China, Zheng began playing ping pong at grow older seven. At age 8, she relocated, without her mommy as well as daddy, to Wuhan for better coaching, and since adolescence she has greatly appreciated and followed Mandarin athletes, like the ping pong superstar Li Na as well as the distance runner Liu Xiang, that succeeded gold at the 2004 Athens Games.u00e2 $ It was actually truly hard, u00e2 $ Zheng pointed out, recalling at those early times. u00e2 $ My mother made use of ahead see on weekends. When she left behind, I would certainly keep her leg and also cry. When she was actually gone, I would certainly consistently hold her jacket. This was actually up until I was actually 13. After 13, my mommy decided to stop her work and also come visit me full-time, simply to possess much better development and also much better care. Afterwards, it got much easier. And also we relocated to Europe when I was actually 17. u00e2 $.