China's Xu Mengtao has made Olympic history once again. Defying age and gravity, the 35-year-old aerial skier just set the benchmark for every athlete in her sport.

As per the CGTN sports scene, Mengtao became the first-ever Aerials athlete to defend an Olympic title on February 18.

The 35-year-old athlete finished with 112.90 points, giving China its second gold medal at Milan. She defended her gold medal position at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, despite a tough competition from Australia’s Danielle Scott.

After her victory, Xu discussed her performance in an interview. Her statements resonated with Scott as well, who is 35 and yet won Silver with 102.17 points.

"The older I get, the more I embrace myself through the tough times. I have to live my own life”, she said. “As long as you’re passionate about what you do and you harbour a dream, you’ll always be in your prime. Even at 36, you can do it.”

This victory added to Xu’s glorious list. She is already one of the most accomplished aerial skiers of all time, with 35 World Cup victories and 7 world medals. And now she has two Olympic golds to her name. However, besides the individual feats, China’s Milan run has been quite strong.

China’s Strong Olympic Journey in Milan

Eileen Gu is yet another most decorated female freeskier in Olympic history. In the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the 22-year-old won two golds in big air and halfpipe and a silver in slopestyle. This year, she won two silver medals in big air and slopestyle.

Then there is Shao Qi, a 24-year-old freestyle skier, who won bronze with her 101.90-point final jump in the same event as Xu. With her 101.90-point final jump, Qi has made history as well. This is the first time in the history of Olympic two skiers from the same National Olympic Committee have made it to the podium.

32-year-old Kong Fanyu ended up in 4^th position, and Chen Meiting, 20, finished in 9^th. Xu has indicated she is not retiring and plans to continue competing.

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Written by

Deblina Roy

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi