Teens and Tactics Blur in China’s Quest for Gold

A young skater’s emergence signals a pivot in the way an Olympic power defines success. But its handling of the table tennis competition suggests old expectations may persist, too.

By Hannah Beech

Reporting from Paris

Aug. 7, 2024

Lilibet speaks good English. Her coach is British and amply tattooed. She competed on Tuesday in park skateboarding, an insurgent sport in which the point among the sisterhood of athletes is not just winning a medal but embodying a mantra of female empowerment.

Lilibet is just a nickname. Her full name is Zheng Haohao, and at 11 she is the youngest athlete at these Games. She is also the new face of a Chinese sports-industrial complex that for decades has harnessed…