.The scene in the stands at Roland Garrosu00e2 $ s Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier was populated with vermillion ensigns, including a radiance to the presently orangey air rising off the reddish clay-based court.These were actually Mandarin flagsu00e2 $" manies themu00e2 $" swaying in energetic assistance for Qinwen Zheng, 21, who would soon take gold through defeating Croatiau00e2 $ s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the womenu00e2 $ s singles tennis final.As she put down on the dust, eyes skyward as well as fists stretched right into the Paris fog, the winu00e2 $ s gravitation seemed to register: Zheng had just built the kind of past history that prolonged much past the stadium as well as the moment. This was Chinau00e2 $ s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sportu00e2 $" as well as Zheng had actually created obvious of the simple fact that the Olympics were actually as, if not additional, necessary to her than a Grand Slam.Zheng celebrates her Olympic success on August 3.Picture: Getty Imagesu00e2 $ In China, our company regularly believe a countryu00e2 $ s tribute resides in face of individual results, u00e2 $ she stated over a morning meeting at Nikeu00e2 $ s Athlete Property, put inconspicuously between the Stade de France as well as the Aquatics Facility in Parisu00e2 $ s St. Denis region, the time after her conquest. u00e2 $ I alleviated [the Video games] differentlyu00e2 $" the emotion, the match, the mindset: It really felt various than every other tournament Iu00e2 $ ve played.u00e2 $ Birthed in 2002 in Shiyan, China, Zheng began playing ping pong at age seven. At age eight, she moved, without her mama and papa, to Wuhan for much better mentoring, as well as since adolescence she has actually deeply marvelled at and mimicked Chinese professional athletes, like the ping pong celebrity Li Na as well as the distance runner Liu Xiang, who succeeded gold at the 2004 Athens Games.u00e2 $ It was actually actually challenging, u00e2 $ Zheng said, looking back at those very early times. u00e2 $ My mother made use of to follow browse through on weekend breaks. When she left behind, I would certainly keep her leg and also weep. When she was gone, I will constantly hold her jacket. This was actually till I was actually thirteen. After 13, my mom made a decision to quit her job as well as happen stay with me full-time, just to have far better growth and also far better care. Afterwards, it got less complicated. As well as our experts transferred to Europe when I was 17. u00e2 $.