Hong Kong – A 12 -year -old Chinese swimmer has become a world feeling with her history times, even if observers and fans returning home against overhang with the young athlete.
Yu Zidi became the youngest medalist on the aquatic world championships on Thursday, which are held in Singapore this year.
Yu was part of the Chinese team that took bronze in the free 4×200 meter meter relay, the United States winning Silver and Australia winning gold. Although she did not participate in the final, she received a medal because she swam in the qualification race.
“I was really excited to join the relay. It was great,” said Yu to journalists on Thursday. “The world championships are fun, and I hope to swim faster.”
The Chinese prodigy began to swim around 6 years old just to beat the heat in his native province of Hebei. She said that she had never thought of becoming a professional athlete until a coach one day approaches her in a swimming pool.
“At the time, I thought: why not try training?” Yu told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency managed by the State in May.
Yu, who is also the youngest at the medal during a major international competition since 1936, could win an individual medal on Sunday in the 400 meters of 400 meters. His times are so fast that they have allowed him to participate in the aquatic world championships, even if minimum age requirements are generally 14.
It has already been close to the medal in two other events in Singapore, missing the 0.06 second podium in the 200 meter of 200 meters of women on Monday and 0.31 seconds in the female butterfly of 200 meters on Thursday.
During the Chinese national championships in May, Yu finished the four individual swimming of 200 meters with a time of 2: 10.63, winning a silver medal and establishing a world record in the event for any 12 -year -old child, man or woman.
Hailed as the largest swimmer in the world of his age, Yu was compared to phenomena such as Katie Ledecky in the United States and Summer McIntosh in Canada, with times that would have put him on the point of medalist at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. Already, Yu swims the 400 meters the individual mixture about 15 seconds faster than McIntosh was not at the same age.
Her breathtaking performance before she was even a teenager wonders how she could shape competitive swimming in the years to come.
But some sports fans and Chinese commentators have urged the public not to appear the Pretteen Rising Star.
Yu’s sudden fame can expose it to “disproportionate” pressure that could prevent it from reaching its full potential, said the digital media supported by the state, Shanghai observes, in an editorial on Thursday.
“We have to let this 12 year old child push his splash slowly into a wave,” he said, adding that there is “no need to rush into the worship of the heroes”.
The warning alluded to a change in the way China promotes its elite athletes as a result of persistent Doping allegations and what has been criticized as a culture of “toxic” fans.
Success at the highest levels of sport was at the heart of the construction of national identity by China, the government focused on the dominant medal tables at the Olympic Games and other events.
But the push of gold medals also puts a lot of stress on the star athletes of the countries, as well as the intensity of the public examination.
The organized sports fandom emerged for the first time around 2016 when Chinese social media users, jaded by sex scandals that had tarnished the healthy image of pop stars they loved before, began to follow the Olympic athletes instead, said Zhang Bin, a veteran sports commentator in China.
The new fans have brought “sophisticated strategies” of the entertainment industry, triggering “Fandom wars” among the different groups that have tried to outdo each other to support their athletes, said Zhang.
The cultivation of extreme sports fans of China, which can include crowds of fans, cyberbullying athletes and heckling behavior during sporting events, was particularly visible at the Paris Olympic Games last year.
When the winner of the gold medal Quin Hongchan returned to his hometown, visitors flocked to her house for days. Some are live with their phones while others have stolen drones, and travel agencies have even started to offer visits to its village.
Pan Zhanle, an Olympic champion swimmer, was congratulated to dissolve his official fans group after his success at the Paris Games overwhelmed him with a wave of new followers.
The Chinese government has repressed, its cyberspace childcare dog saying in April that it had closed more than 3,700 social media accounts with illegal or non -compliant content for Chinese athletes.
But sometimes the frenzy goes beyond the internet. The fan of Chinese table tennis player Zhendong, an Olympic gold medalist, said that he had been traumatized when a foreigner got into his hotel room in 2023.
“I have never thought, as an athlete, I should go through something like that,” he told Phoenix TV last week, adding that online abuse organized had caused him “serious” mental stress that contributed to several unexpected losses.
Given that sports wonders naturally attract followers, fans groups could also be a concern for Yu in the future, Zhang, who was at the aquatic world championships in Singapore, said.
China is often overprotective of its athletes, but it may not be a good thing if you live in isolation like giant protected pandas, “he said.
“For athletes, learning to interact with the media is a necessary part of their development,” added Zhang.
Jessie Zhou, 23, a graduate student of Hong Kong who closely follows the Table Table fan Star, said that it was a “good call” for the Chinese media to cover Yu in a “limited tone” while the extreme sports fandom remains unresolved.
“Just let the child stay focused on training,” said Zhou.