Paris, August 6 (Xinhua) -- At the Stade de France on the evening of the 6th, Zhao Jie happily draped the national flag after completing the last test throw.
The 21-year-old, who is making her Olympic debut on the Olympic stage, threw 74.27m in her second attempt in the women's hammer throw final at the Paris Olympics and won a bronze medal.
"Happy and proud!" She made no secret of her excitement and admitted that she felt "in very good shape" from the beginning of the trial pitch.
In fact, before the start of the finals, Zhao Jie was more cautious about the goal of this competition: "The top eight, let's not talk about the bigger ambitions, hide them in my heart." ”
In every Olympic Games since 2008, the Chinese team has won medals in the women's hammer throw event. In this qualifying round, the veteran Wang Zheng did not play well and missed the finals, and the pressure of winning the medal shifted to Zhao Jie.
In fact, Zhao Jie, who was only discovered by the coach in the first year of junior high school and officially stepped into the hammer throw project, has a slightly thin resume in the competition, but he has made rapid progress. When she participated in the World Championships for the first time in 2022, she was eliminated in the qualifying round. In the next year, she broke her personal best to reach the final of the World Championships, and won the second place at the Hangzhou Asian Games in the same year with 69.44m. In the 2024 season, Zhao Jie continued to improve his personal best (PB) to 75.24m.
For her, the roar after throwing the hammer ball was the moment she enjoyed the most. "Watching the ball fly into the distance, I wish it was flying in the air a little longer."
After winning the Olympic bronze medal, has the "ambition" hidden in my heart changed?
"Gold medal!" Zhao Jie was a little shy, but his tone was firm.