Yang Siqi of China competes during the women's round 3 heat of surfing of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, on Aug. 1, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

There was no miracle. Facing the changing winds and waves of Teahupo'o in the South Pacific Ocean, Yang Siqi surfed on par against her U.S. opponent Caroline Marks, concluding her journey to the Paris Olympics in the round of 16.

But the defeat didn't seem to bother her much. She said she felt a bit nervous before the heat, but that mostly came from the excitement of competing against one of the best.

"How could it be possible not to feel nervous when competing with an elite surfer like Marks? But I was also very happy because I learned a lot by competing with her," said Yang.

Born in the Yi autonomous prefecture of Liangshan in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Yang had never seen the ocean before she started surfing. Now she has made history as the first Chinese surfer to compete at the Olympic Games.

In Teahupo'o, the 15-year-old was the youngest among all Olympic surfers and one of the very few who had never surfed in the Olympic venue. Yet she won hearts and minds by being fearless against the massive barrels, which some of her peers described as "scary".

"Before every training session, I would keep reminding her about what not to do, about what waves to catch and what waves not to, about the safety measures like wearing the helmet," said Yang's coach Luo Yang. "But she simply came back to me after the first session, saying 'it was not that scary as I have seen in the videos.'"

"The waves were massive," said Yang. "But I was not really afraid, I just wanted to get down there to surf."

Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Kanoa Igarashi, who has been Yang's favorite surfer, found her inspirational.

"She was charging so hard in the free surfs. I feel like, as Asians in surfing, there's not many of us, so whenever we can support each other, we support each other as much as possible. She's definitely one that I would love to keep cheering for the rest of her career," said Igarashi.

Fernando Aguerre, President of the International Surfing Association (ISA), also praised Yang.

"She's young, she's committed, she understands the ocean. It's a wave that can just destroy you and it takes a very strong mind to be in those waves, let alone paddle, stand up, and go in the tube, so she is doing all of that," said Aguerre.

For Yang, the best moment of Paris 2024 was not in the water. "We played table tennis together, we had so much fun," she said.

Reflecting on her Olympic experience, she add "I was very happy. I made some good friends. I caught some great waves. It was just a little pity that I didn't achieve the goal to complete a barrel here."

Yang expressed pride in representing her country at the Olympic Games, and surfing with the best has boosted her confidence.

"I might not be as good as the other surfers, but I have my own advantage of surfing in the smaller waves. I simply have not been surfing as long as they have, so I am not as experienced as they are," she said.

Looking ahead, Yang aspires to be a professional surfer like many of her opponents in Paris 2024 and to keep her dream of becoming an Olympic champion someday.

"I enjoy surfing because I like it a lot," she said.

Yang revealed that she could take a break following the Olympics and then shift her focus to the National Games.

"I want to eat some good food!" she said when asked what she would do first after the Olympics. "And I might go for a vacation with my coach and his girlfriend, and probably go home for a family get-together."

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