Desk Report,
Who is the girl who rocked the world championship swimming pool at the age of 12?
12 years old is not exactly adolescence. Adolescence is the age of coming and going. At this age, children learn to dream by looking around. When they grow up, they will be this, that, or like this… 12-year-old Yu Jidi cannot be placed in this category. This young swimmer from China has started fulfilling her dreams at this age. To put it more bluntly, the dream has not yet been fulfilled for just 0.06 seconds!
Who is the girl who rocked the world championship swimming pool at the age of 12?
Since the talent is immense, the fulfillment of her dreams may be ahead. For now, this schoolboy has shocked everyone at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore. He is already one of the fastest swimmers in the world!
However, the minimum age to participate in this World Swimming Championships is 14 years old. According to the news agency AFP, if you meet the other qualifications to participate in this competition, you are allowed to compete. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Zidi got the opportunity to play in the main competition due to the timing in the qualifying round. Since Zidi met all the conditions and qualified for the competition, various media outlets have predicted that she has a good chance of winning a medal as the youngest swimmer in the last 89 years in international competition. Currently, this feat belongs to Inge Sorensen, a bronze-winning swimmer at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Sorensen won the medal a few days after turning 12.
There is a record for entering the pool at a younger age than Zidi in this world championship in swimming. Bahraini swimmer Alzain Tarek entered the pool at the age of 10 under the ‘loser qualifying standards’ rule in the 2015 world championships. But he could not overcome the heat barrier. Zidi is different in this area because of her talent. Yesterday, the women’s 200-meter medley was the first medal fight in Zidi’s career at a world championship. There, Zidi was considered to be the main rival of three-time Olympic champion Summer McIntosh of Canada. Zidi’s barely 12-year-old body weight was definitely understood now! She could not beat McIntosh and did not win a medal—yet Zidi did not disappoint at all. Although McIntosh won the gold in 2 minutes 6.69 seconds, Zidi finished fourth with a time of 2 minutes 09.21 seconds. She finished the swim just 0.06 seconds behind the bronze winner, Marie-Sophie Harvey of Canada (2 minutes 09.15 seconds). That is, Zidi missed out on the bronze by this fraction of a second. However, there is room for hope. According to World Aquatics, no boy on the world stage of swimming has been able to time like Zidi at this age. American swimmer Alex Walsh, who won silver in this event, was surprised to see Zidi, “He is an extraordinary talent at such a young age.” It remains to be seen how she competes in these events, which will shape her future swimming. Because, of course, she has a bright future ahead of her.
Zidi will also compete in the 400m medley and 200m butterfly events at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore. Listen to Marie-Sophie Harvey, to whom she lost the bronze in the 200m medley, about Zidi, “The pressure (of expectations) will increase even more after the competition. Because she has been swimming very well so far. We will see her a lot in Los Angeles (2028 Olympics).” Seeing Zidi swimming in the pool, Australian swimming coach Michael Ball, who works for the Chinese Swimming Association, is very optimistic. “I have never seen a 12-year-old swim like this before,” Ball told China’s state-run TV channel CCTV in May.
Ball saw Zidi swim at the Chinese national championships that month. Where Zidi won silver in the 200-meter individual relay swimming in 2 minutes 10.63 seconds. CNN reported that this is the best timing for a 12-year-old boy and girl in this event. However, Zidi has been in the news even before that—after failing to qualify for the main round by just 2 seconds in the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers.
Who is Yu Zidi?
Zidi was born on October 16, 2012, in Baoding, a city in the northern part of China’s Hebei province. Although he showed talent in swimming at the age of 12, he started getting into the pool a little later than other swimmers. Zidi started swimming at the age of 6. Unable to bear the heat, his father took him to a local water park. Listen to the rest in Zidi’s own words, “It was very hot. Dad took me to the park. I liked the cold water and I was spending time in different pools. One day, a coach smiled and said, ‘Do you want to swim faster?’
That’s how it started. According to the media outlets ‘South China Morning Post’ and ‘Marca’, three years later, 9-year-old Jidi left her parents and went to Hengshui City, 160 kilometers away, to start training at the Hebei Taihua Jinye Swimming Club. At that time, she also joined the provincial swimming team. Jidi has been participating in China’s national swimming competition since the age of 10, that is, since 2023. After joining the national team, Jidi has been training under Chinese Olympic champion and former world record holder Li Bingzhi.
