Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

THE 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony featured a mysterious masked torchbearer who captivated audiences with a daring display of rooftop parkour that weaved through Paris’ iconic landmarks.

In a separate but equally thrilling chapter of the Paris Olympic Games, 18-year-old Deng Yawen made history for China by winning the nation’s first gold medal in the women’s BMX Freestyle event.

Parkour, which originates from French military obstacle course training, is a dynamic and exhilarating physical discipline that involves navigating obstacles with speed, efficiency, and creativity. BMX Freestyle, on the other hand, is a high-octane sport packed with spins, flips, tail whips, and riders flying through the air across ramps, jumps, rails, and more.

In Shenzhen, a city known for its youthful demographic, adrenaline-pumping extreme sports hold a special allure for the young and adventurous.

Many enthusiasts, including students, regularly push the boundaries of physical capability and have dazzled on provincial, national, and even global stages.

Rising stars to the fore

On Oct. 18, a Shenzhen student named Liu Haoran won the men’s youth BMX Freestyle championship event during the Shanghai leg of the FISE World Series, a multidisciplinary event that features BMX, roller scooter, skateboard, and breaking competitions.

The 12-year-old, a student at Shenzhen Nanshan Experimental Educational Group Qilin No. 2 Middle School, made his debut for the national team and stood out in the fierce competition at the Shanghai leg, competing against nearly 560 athletes from 39 countries and regions around the world.

Liu executed highly difficult movements during the competition and won the championship with a five-point lead.

“It was truly honorable and unforgettable for me to stand on the podium wearing the national flag,” Liu told Southern Metropolis Daily while recounting his win at the Shanghai leg of the FISE World Series.

“There were some difficult movements that were quite hard to complete perfectly before, but being able to accomplish that at the competition, I felt particularly satisfied,” Liu said, adding that he also managed to “challenge himself” at the event.

Just a few days later, on Oct. 27, Liu once again won first place in the men’s youth group at the finals of the 2024 China BMX Freestyle League. The event attracted 76 athletes from nine provinces and municipalities across the country.

In what can be called a winning streak, Liu won the 2024 Guangdong Youth BMX (Freestyle) Championships on Nov. 11.

This young man, who was born and raised in Shenzhen, has been cycling more than 10 kilometers back and forth along the Dasha River Ecological Corridor with his father since kindergarten.

According to Liu, he fell in love with BMX (bicycle motocross) when he was a bit over 5 yeas old and has been involved in sport ever since. The backflip, for instance, is a movement that Liu began practicing after two years of exposure to the sport. For him, mastering this movement has required practice tens of thousands of times.

But his efforts paid off. Liu obtained the national level athlete certificate at the age of 10 and is known as the “world’s No. 1 in his age group.”

At present, Liu is actively preparing for next year’s National Games, which will be held locally in Guangdong Province, and hoping to win glory for the province.

The middle school student is full of confidence for his upcoming training. “I want to continue to work hard and be able to stand on the highest podium of the Olympics in the future. It’s my biggest dream that national anthems can be played around the world because of me.”

Liu is not alone in winning glory for Shenzhen. Wu Jiayang, a high school student from Shenzhen Foreign Languages School, won the U16 men’s racing national championship of the Asian Parkour Sports Association (APSA) on Dec. 15.

This marked Wu winning the first national-level parkour gold medal for Shenzhen and setting a record for the fastest race in the competition.

It was Wu’s second championship in less than a month after winning the gold medal in the men’s U16 racing competition at the 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Parkour Challenge and the Guangdong Youth Parkour Championship in November.

At the APSA national finals, Wu competed against young athletes from Beijing, Chongqing, Xi’an, and other places. Previously, he stood out from over 2,000 athletes in more than 30 provinces and municipalities across the country and made it to the finals after multiple rounds of municipal and district-level competitions throughout the year.

This June, he won sixth place in the 15-16 age group racing competition and eighth place in the chase competition at the National Youth Parkour Championships, which was then the best result for a Shenzhen youth in the national parkour competition. At the same time, he helped Guangdong rank for the first time in the 12+ age group in these two major events.

Also for Wu, there are countless exercises behind every gravity-defying movement.

“The greatest challenge in parkour, I believe, is overcoming fear and gaining absolute mastery over one’s body,” Wu told Shenzhen Daily during an exclusive interview.

“To overcome the challenge, one must have absolute faith in oneself, repeat various movements with perseverance, endure numerous falls and contorted movements, and engage in endless practice until the desired level of proficiency is attained,” said the 16-year-old, who got into parkour because of a video he saw in junior high school.

According to Wu, his passion for parkour is largely fueled by a quest for uncertainty. “There’s a thrilling ambiguity when you’re suspended in mid-air, unsure if you’ll successfully execute the envisioned maneuver in the next moment. This dual nature of uncertainty — both terrifying and exhilarating — is captivating.”

Meanwhile, the sense of accomplishment that comes from conquering that fear and executing a flawless movement is deeply satisfying to him.

Parkour is growing in China but not yet popular, Wu noted. However, he believes it will become popular as more enthusiasts promote the sport — most of his friends who practice parkour were inspired by him.

“Personally, I think parkour actually combines the skills of running, long jump, high jump, and gymnastics and offers very comprehensive exercise for physical fitness.”

As for future plans, Wu hopes to get good results in the National Youth Championship next year. “Next year is the last time I can participate in the youth competition. I hope this sport can accompany me for the rest of my life, and I also want to join or create a parkour club in university,” Wu said.

“I also hope that parkour will be included in the Olympic Games as soon as possible so that more people will know about this sport,” he added.

PE education more

recognized

The Chinese education system, particularly at the primary and secondary levels, has traditionally placed a stronger emphasis on academic subjects like Chinese, mathematics, and English at the expense of physical education (PE).

This academic-centric approach, often geared towards preparing students for high-stakes exams like the gaokao (national college entrance examinations), has led to a perceived oversight of PE and sports within the curriculum, sparking criticism.

In recent years, however, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of PE in China, and the government has initiated various reforms, including policy changes, infrastructure development, and health education, to rectify this imbalance.

In Shenzhen, educational authorities have been proactive in uplifting the status of PE in schools. For example, beginning with the spring semester of this year, the city has enforced a “one PE class per day” initiative across 871 compulsory education schools.

In 2023, Shenzhen hosted 45 municipal-level, large-scale campus sports events. To date, 695 schools have made their sports venues accessible to the public through a user-friendly reservation system.