Paris 2024 skateboarding: Eleven-year-old Chinese rising star Zheng Haohao is enjoying the ride
Dropping in with graceful ease and a toothy smile, Zheng Haohao is in her element as she works through her line in the depths of the Place de La Concorde’s park bowl.
The other skaters give her a smile and words of encouragement when she rolls past them after concluding her turn during practice. She looks every bit relaxed on the Olympic stage, showing no sign of the attention that has come flooding her way.
At 11 years old, Zheng is the youngest athlete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the youngest ever to represent the People’s Republic of China.
It tops a remarkable rise for the skater from Huizhou, whose late surge at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai and Budapest allowed her to lift her world ranking to 26th and muscle in on the Olympic action.
Naturally, the interest in her and her historic showing has been significant, not least given the 40-year age gap between her and the oldest skateboarder at the Games, Andy Macdonald (51).
The Briton, famed for his vert skating, had won all 23 of his X Games medals before Zheng was even born, and likewise has received recognition for his age.
But peel back all the buzz around her youth and what you’ll find is that Zheng is just a typical skater trying her best.
“She has done great and she has worked hard,” said Danny Wainwright, Zheng’s coach, exclusively to Olympics.com in an interview after women’s practice, discussing the rise of his young prodigy.
Wainwright, a professional skateboarder with experience judging top-tier skate events, took over as Zheng’s coach ahead of the Olympic Qualifier in Dubai and under his tutelage, her contest results have soared.
“She was 43rd, then 20, and then the next contest was 21, so she has done really well,” he said.
And she showed her potential in the women's park preliminary contest on Tuesday (6 August). Zheng managed a clean run worth 63.19 points which was not enough to see her through to the final but she will gain further valuable experience for the future.
Zheng Haohao and coach Danny Wainwright share a laugh after practice at Paris 2024
Zheng Haohao on a steep learning curve
Zheng’s learning curve has been a strikingly steep one.
In the short four years since she was first gifted a skateboard, the Chinese youngster has made light work crossing the bridge from national to international stage.
On how Wainwright has been training Zheng to adapt to the top level she now finds herself at, the Briton explains that sessions encompass “a bit of everything”.
“Technique; seeing what tricks she can do; knowing what tricks that will lead to and just watching her ability,” he adds, describing what his role typically entails. “Sometimes I have a plan of what to do and sometimes it’s just skate; try things and do things the other way.
“She’s very academic. She loves to study. She loves to be writing. And she loves English study books. So if I make a checklist of all the tricks that she has to do, do those tricks three or five times in a row, she loves it.
“I’ll have a little clipboard and a pen and a little Excel file printed out, and I say, ‘I’m going to make one’ and she’s like, ‘Make it colourful! Make it colourful!’ And she’s ticking it off and she’s drawing things around it. It’s really funny.”
That’s not only where the humour ends.
“We are always like playing jokes on each other,” says Wainwright. “It’s like we have the same mental age; we just mess around and have fun.”
Zheng Haohao and coach Danny Wainwright talk things through during practice at Paris 2024
Future is bright for Zheng Haohao
There is perhaps no one that better understands the extent of the excitement around Zheng than her coach.
When the pair landed back in the People’s Republic of China after the rising star had remarkably clinched her quota in Budapest, the intrigue was immediately apparent.
“Every single day was a different film crew, different sports channel and they would interview her all day long,” he says.
And it’s with a similar curiosity which the world is attending the women’s park event more broadly.
All three Tokyo 2020 medallists are set to return for a second tilt in Paris and with the addition of 14-year-old record-breaking phenom Arisa Trew, Tuesday’s action promises to deliver something special for every skate fan.
Speaking on Zheng’s role in that, Wainwright hopes the young Chinese skater is simply able to relish the experience.
“I just hope she has fun,” the British coach said of his ambitions.
“She has already done what she had to do: that’s coming here. I don’t expect anything. I’d love for her to get top 16, that would be amazing, but you never know.
“Everybody’s here for the same reason. Everyone’s here to work, and everyone wants that so it’s hard to say.”
In any case for Zheng, the future promises to be a bright one. Given her current trajectory and the potential he sees in her, Wainwright imagines exciting things.
“The way kids learn now, it’s crazy,” he says. “When she really, really finds her feet and she gets stronger, she’ll be messing around with things herself and different tricks and she’ll develop her style.”