Chinese shot-putter Gong Lijiao wants to defend her title in Paris

Gong Lijiao, the defending Olympic women's shot put gold medalist, has stepped on her fifth Olympic journey in Paris at 35.

When Gong threw 20.58 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, not only did she set her personal best, she also secured her first Olympic gold that had been evading her for too long.

"I think it only gets harder each time I compete," Gong told CGTN Sports Scene's Zhu Mandan. "After winning in Tokyo, I had a high expectation for this Olympics. But as I grew older, my physical strength inevitably became weaker. But I also grew more mature as an athlete. And in training I would dig deeper and gradually become better. So I am really looking forward to the Paris Olympics."

Gong admitted that it will be her final Olympic appearance in Paris, but she feels no pressure. All she wants to enjoy every moment of competing at the world's top stage.

"Paris will be my fifth Olympic Games. Life doesn't have enough years for me to continue competing," Gong said.

"People expect me to feel under pressure but for me, I've won all the titles that need to be won, what I care about most is to enjoy every match. And find myself during these games. So, Paris Olympics is more of a challenge for me. I don't feel that nervous anymore," she added.

It's never easy for veteran athletes to change, but Gong managed to do it. She was joined by coach Dieter Kollark asked her to change some of her movements.

"I'm relatively short for this sport, and I have a shorter length when I slide at the start of my throw. So he made some changes at the start of the throw to have more space and that helped me a lot," Gong said in the interview. "At first I did struggle a bit as I've been using the same technique for over twenty years. But when I really accept that and used his way, I realized that it did help me a lot. I can move faster and the result also turned out better."

Although there is no pressure of any kind haunting Gong in Pairs, she still aims for the gold, like any top athlete would do.

"My goal is definitely to win gold. I feel that I have the ability to do that. If I can cooperate with my coach well, and perform my best on the field, then I'm confident that I can win the gold medal again for China," Gong said.