.The scene in the stands at Roland Garrosu00e2 $ s Courthouse Philippe-Chatrier was populated along with vermillion streamers, incorporating a glow to the already orangey sky rising off the reddish clay court.These were Mandarin flagsu00e2 $" thousands of themu00e2 $" swaying in boisterous assistance for Qinwen Zheng, 21, that would very soon take gold through beating Croatiau00e2 $ s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the womenu00e2 $ s single people tennis final.As she put down on the gunk, eyes skyward and fists stretched right into the Paris haze, the winu00e2 $ s gravitational force seemed to be to sign up: Zheng had only forged the kind of history that prolonged much past the stadium and also the second. This was actually Chinau00e2 $ s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sportu00e2 $" and Zheng had made obvious of the simple fact that the Olympics were actually as, or even additional, important to her than a Grand Slam.Zheng commemorates her Olympic victory on August 3.Image: Getty Imagesu00e2 $ In China, our company regularly feel a countryu00e2 $ s respect is in front of personal effectiveness, u00e2 $ she stated over an early morning conference at Nikeu00e2 $ s Athlete Residence, tucked quietly between the Stade de France and the Aquatics Centre in Parisu00e2 $ s St. Denis place, the day after her triumph. u00e2 $ I handled [the Video games] differentlyu00e2 $" the emotion, the match, the mentality: It felt various than intermittent competition Iu00e2 $ ve played.u00e2 $ Born in 2002 in Shiyan, China, Zheng began participating in tennis at age 7. At age eight, she relocated, without her mom and daddy, to Wuhan for far better training, and also given that teenage years she has greatly appreciated as well as replicated Chinese professional athletes, such as the ping pong superstar Li Na and the jogger Liu Xiang, that succeeded gold at the 2004 Athens Games.u00e2 $ It was definitely difficult, u00e2 $ Zheng stated, looking back at those early days. u00e2 $ My mom made use of to follow see on weekends. When she left behind, I will hold her lower leg and cry. When she was actually gone, I would consistently store her coat. This was actually up until I was actually thirteen. After thirteen, my mom made a decision to stop her task and also come remain with me full-time, only to possess better growth and far better care. After that, it acquired easier. And our experts relocated to Europe when I was actually 17. u00e2 $.