China’s Gen-Z Athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games

The Chinese were proud to see Generation Z standing on the podium, listening to the national anthem, and watching the Chinese national flag rise.

Young gold medalists received huge attention after their performances. 

So let's look back on what our Gen-Z athletes achieved during the Tokyo Olympic Games.

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杨倩 ( Yang Qian ) received China's FIRST gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic games. 

Yang Qian, born in 2000, is a Chinese sport shooter. This year she won two gold medals, one for women's 10 metre air rifle and another for mixed 10 metre air rifle team.

She is currently studying Economics and Management in Tsinghua University, one of the top universities in China.

With her amazing performance, she immediately received attention by the Chinese citizens. 

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Over the night, her manicure became a trend. The sales for herduck hair clip rose enormously on TaoBao. Many girls started following the "Yang Qian style" for good luck. 

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In one of the interviews, her trainer said that Yang Qian has a very calm character. 

"She does not panic during competitions, and can quickly readjust her mindset during the game. That is the most important factor for her success."

"This is what celebrities should look like", said the netizens on Weibo. 

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16-year-old Chinese artistic gymnast, Guan Chenchen, is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion on Women's Balance Beam. She is also the youngest gymnast in the Chinese team. 

Guan Chenchen had a routine that was more difficult than the ones of her competitors. Her amazing performance led her to being qualified first for the finals. 

One of her dance moves was similar to the "kangaroo wave" GIF that had some popularity on the internet before the Olympic Games.

But after Guan Chenchen integrated it into her performance, it went viral. Now thousands of Chinese audiences, including celebrities, are following the trend on Douyin.

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孙颖莎( Sun Yingsha ), 20-year-old Chinese table tennis player, was given silver for Women's Singles and gold for the Women's Team in the Tokyo Olympics. 

Moreover, she is ranked 2nd in the 2021 ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking. She comes right after Chen Meng, the Chinese gold medalist for Women's Singles.

In this year’s Olympics, she crushed the Japanese table tennis player Mima Ito by 4-0 in the semi-finals. It is important to note that Mima Ito is ranked 3rd in the ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking and was viewed as the biggest threat for China's team before the match.

Even the Japanese trainer said: "Sun Yingsha did not follow her usual style, so the preparation and training that we did to beat her weren't that useful."

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Ai Fukuhara, a former Japanese table tennis player and a previous Olympic medalist, commented on the match: "Sun Yingsha used to have a fierce and fast style of play. But today, she won the competition by flexibly adjusting her spinning techniques."

Finally she said: "My impression of this match is that Sun Yingsha used Mima Ito's way to beat Mima Ito."

After the individual competition, she teamed up with Chen Meng and Wang Manyu in the Women's Team match. They scored a 3-0 over Japan, winning the gold medal for this category. 

This continued China's undefeated winning streak in Olympic table tennis games.

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Because Sun Yingsha plays firmly and stably during all the games but is very sweet offstage, netizens described her as the "cutie offstage, the little devil on court". 

During the award ceremony, the commentator said: “孙颖莎未来可期！”, which means "Sun Yingsha's future is promising." 

Her era is about to come. 

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全红婵 ( Quan Hongchan ) is one of the youngest olympians competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games. She is a 14-year-old Chinese diver, who won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the individual 10-metre platform event. 

Out of five dives in the finals, Quan Hongchan made three perfect dives, getting an overall score of 466.2 points. She broke the Olympic record of 447.7 points set by Chen Ruolin during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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The commentator exclaimed "I have bigger splashes when I put the dumplings into the water than Quan Hongchan jumping from the 10 metre platform." 

Indeed, Quan Hongchan was exceptional. 

Staying 10 metres above the pool, her eyes showed her determination and confidence. With the smooth movements in the air and a perfect control of splashes, Quan Hongchan became the definition of an ideal dive.

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Guo Jingjing, a multi-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion, commented on Quan Hongchan's performance in an interview. 

She said: "I am so jealous and a little embarrassed that I haven't gotten that many perfect dives in my 20 years of diving career. And she did it in one competition."

It is important to note that the "diving queen" Guo Jingjing went to the Tokyo Olympics as a judge. This comment shows Guo Jingjing's modesty, but moreover, it was also a huge compliment for the young diver - Quan Hongchan.

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Quan Hongchan wasn't born in a wealthy family. She mentioned in the interviews that she hasn't been to amusement parks and zoos. 

Guangzhou Chimelong Tourist Resort immediately reacted to this issue and announced that the whole diving team will get VIP yearly passes to all their theme parks. "We will fill in this gap," they said, "we welcome the athletes at any time".

She also mentioned that her mother was her biggest motivation. 

"I want to earn more money to treat my mom's illness," Quan Hongchan said. 

Her hard work, strong faith and love in her heart led her to get the gold medal. Not only her family, but also the whole nation is proud of her achievements during the Tokyo Olympics.

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China's diving team is called the "Dream Team" for a reason. 

China had outstanding results in the past Olympic games' diving events. This year is not an exception. 

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15-year-old Chen Yuxi and 17-year-old Zhang Jiaqi won the gold medal for the women's 10 metre synchronized platform diving. 

Their perfect coordination and impressive performance with "zero splashes" showed the power of Chinese Gen-Z. 

Chen Yuxi also got a silver medal in the individual 10-metre platform diving.

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There are so many more amazing Gen-Z athletes that got to shine during the Tokyo Olympics. This has once again proven that Gen-Z is ready to dominate the competition terrain and win glory for China.

During the 2 weeks of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Chinese netizens continuously exclaimed: "I was playing mud in my teenage years and they are already champions and the heroes of our country." 

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A big applause to all the athletes during the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Congratulations to their triumphant return back home. They are currently in their 14-day quarantine. 

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Many athletes have been sharing their quarantine life with us through live streaming, interviews and vlogs on Weibo and Douyin. 

Go check those out!