Yang Siqi of China rides a wave, during round two on day two of the women's surfing competition, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Teahupo'o, French Polynesia. Photo: VCG

 
At the Paris Olympics, 15-year-old Yang Siqi from Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, a mountainous area in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, advanced to the third round of the surfing competition, setting a historic milestone for the Chinese team in surfing. However, before she began surfing at the age of 9, this girl had never seen the sea.

Among the 48 male and female surfers competing in Paris, Yang is the youngest. Born in 2009 in a rural family, her journey into surfing began in an unconventional way.

Yang demonstrated exceptional talent in surfing. At the age of 13, she broke new ground for the Chinese surfing team by competing in surfing events. At 14, she won the relay race at the Asian Surfing Championship. By the age of 15, she qualified for the Olympics, filling a gap for the Chinese team in this discipline.

In 2019, Yang joined the national team. That same year, she represented the Sichuan surfing team and secured second place in the women's shortboard team event at the second Youth Games surfing competition.

From an ordinary rural girl to the first Chinese Olympic surfer challenging the waves, Yang's story is one of overcoming great odds. It took her six years to transform from a mountain girl into an Olympic athlete.

Her coach, Luo Yang, stated in an interview that the primary goal of participating in the Olympics was to gain competition experience and ensure a smooth and safe performance.

"Yang has excellent physical fitness and remarkable strength, and she is quite daring, willing to face challenges. She has always been very dedicated and diligent in completing training plans," Luo told reporters.

"For Yang, participating in the Olympics is just the beginning. It's more about accumulating competition experience, learning from the world's top surfers, and performing better in future global competitions. At her young age, she has many opportunities and space for growth."