The Paris Olympics is set to open on July 26. On July 13, the Chinese Sports Delegation for the Paris Olympics was officially announced in Beijing, marking the start of the journey to the Games for China's athletes. Among the delegation, there is one Shunde athlete, Chen Qingchen, participating in her second Olympics. Previously, at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Chen confidently stated, "I want to win the gold at the Paris Olympics."

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For this year's Olympics, China's badminton team has qualified to compete in all five events, the only team to do so. In the group stage draw for the badminton competition held on July 12, the world’s top-ranked women's doubles pair, Chen Qingchen, and Jia Yifan, were placed in Group A. They will face the Japanese duo Mayu Matsumoto and Nagahara Wakana, and the Indonesian pair Apriani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, which means they will need to give their all from the very beginning.

Leading up to the Olympics, the Chinese badminton team conducted intensive training at the national training base in Shuangliu, Sichuan. In preparation, the women's doubles pairs, including Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan and Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning, conducted special training. Each player trained on separate courts to focus on their technical skills. Chen Qingchen even faced off against four opponents at once, with coach Tao Jiaming joining in to challenge her.

Chen mentioned in an interview, "At this stage, I need to put more pressure on myself, fully anticipating the difficulties I might encounter at the Olympics, but when the time comes, I will need to appropriately relieve that pressure."

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Chen Qingchen, born in 1997, has loved playing badminton since childhood. In 2004, she was spotted by a coach at the Xingning Amateur Sports School, marking the beginning of her badminton training. In 2005, she moved from her hometown sports school to the Shunde Sports School for further training. By 2006, she caught the attention of Guangzhou Sports University, joining the provincial team in 2008. Known for her aggressive playing style and diligent spirit, Chen steadily progressed from the Shunde Sports School to the Chinese national women's badminton team.

Chen Qingchen's rise to fame began in 2012. Over the next five years, she has earned numerous medals in domestic and international competitions. Between 2012 and 2015, she won medals at the World Junior Badminton Championships for four consecutive years. In the 2021 World Badminton Championships in Glasgow, Chen and her partner Jia Yifan secured the women's doubles title, Chen's first world championship. Following this, Chen and Jia won silver at the 2022 Tokyo Olympics and clinched the women's doubles gold at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Reporter | Eddie

Revisor | Eleanor, Zoey

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