Chilean Chinese table tennis player fulfills Olympic dream at age 58

Zeng Zhiying, also known by her Chilean name Tania, has fulfilled her childhood dream of competing in table tennis at the Olympics as the oldest athlete on Chile’s national team at 58 years old. Speaking to the Associated Press ahead of the Paris Olympics, she shared that she “never imagined” she would ever make it, adding, “Qualifying for an Olympics is a big, gigantic dream, and being able to fulfill it at that age is a huge happiness.”

Her dream: “Even when I was a little girl and they would ask me what my dream was, I would say: ‘Become an Olympian,’” Zeng told CNN. Her Olympic journey ended after a 4-1 loss to Lebanon’s Mariana Sahakian in the preliminary rounds of women’s single table tennis on Saturday.
About Zeng Zhiying: Born in Guangzhou in 1966 to a professional table tennis coach, Zeng began training in the sport at 9 years old, enrolled at an elite sports academy at 11 and turned professional a year later. She moved to Arica, a northern city in Chile, in 1989 to teach children table tennis. Despite multiple retirements, she returned to competitive play during the COVID-19 pandemic and became an icon at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, where she won a bronze medal in the team competition.

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