Chinese breaker Liu Qingyi said she feels proud of her performance and encouraged others to dream big after bagging bronze at the Paris Olympics as breaking made its much-anticipated debut at the world's premier multisport competition for the first time.
The 18-year-old Liu, also known as "B-Girl 671", a moniker she choose due to her full name sounding like the pronunciation of those numbers in Chinese, was one of the stand-out stars as the sport featured on the Olympic stage for the first time.
Liu showed strong potential throughout the competition but lost out to Dominika Banevic of Lithuania in the semi-finals, denying her a shot at the Olympic title.
"I felt proud, but it's a little bit pity. Because I think for the semi-final, maybe the first round, [I was] a little bit rushed. I did my best, I already do all [that I can], yeah, but the result I can't control. Yes, I did my best," she said in an interview with the China Media Group (CMG).
However, after this painful loss, Liu picked herself up quickly for the bronze medal contest, where her opponent was India Sardjoe of the Netherlands, a rival whom she has battled against before. But under immense pressure, Liu showed great determination as she performed with a new set of moves to seal the victory.
"Because after the semi-final, I know I can't go to the final. So the next battle is the most important. I should win. I have a feeling [that] I must win. And for India, [at the] Red Bull BC One, I lost to her. So I must win back. I want to push myself, I must win this battle," she said.
Reflecting on her experience in Paris, Liu said participating in the Olympics has helped her grow as an athlete, while also showcasing the sport to new audiences worldwide.
"First of all, I think for breaking [to appear] in the Olympics is a surprise, So I'm really happy to compete in this competition. Also yesterday, I think my performance, I did great. Step by step. It's only a process of my life. The Olympics is a milestone in breaking and also for myself. So I'm happy I can compete in so many high-quality competitions," she said.
After having trained for five years to reach the Olympic stage, Liu highlighted the growing popularity of breakdancing in China thanks to its inclusion in the Games, and sent out a message to young breakdancers who are looking to follow in her footsteps.
"Trust yourself, trust the process. You should be yourself first. Then you can overcome so many problems," she said, adding: "You should trust yourself and do as you want, [follow] your dream."
Chinese breaking star encourages others to dream big after bagging Olympic bronze
Shanghai, a leading force for Chinese modernization, is accelerating the pace of building itself into a science and technology innovation center with global influence.
The tech-savvy metropolis is now speeding up the transition from structure building to function strengthening. Taking strengthening the capability of fostering original sci-tech innovations as the main task, it is pursuing both sci-tech innovation and institutional innovation to significantly improve its comprehensive strength in science and technology as well as the overall effects of innovations.
Over the past 10 years since Shanghai began building itself into an international science and technology innovation center, it has reaped fruitful results in sci-tech innovation, which has pushed the metropolis' GDP across the 4-trillion-yuan (about 570 billion U.S. dollars) mark.
In 2023, Shanghai's total research and development expenditure accounted for 4.4 percent of its GDP, and the city's fiscal expenditure on science and technology rose by 36.7 percent to 52.8 billion yuan (about 7.47 billion U.S. dollars).
Driven by science and technology advances, Shanghai's industrial transformation has sped up. The combined scale of the three leading industries of artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, and biomedicine in the city has reached 1.6 trillion yuan (about 226 billion U.S. dollars).
At the National Local Joint Humanoid Robot Innovation Center in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Science City, Qinglong, an open-source general-purpose humanoid robot with a height of 182 centimeters and up to 43 active degrees of freedom, is being trained to pick up oranges.
"After some training, the robot will be able to complete this move by itself when it encounters a similar scenario in the future," said Shi Zhihua, trainer of robot Qinglong.
Thanks to an advanced control software, Qinglong can skillfully perform fast walking, avoid obstacles, go uphill and downhill, and resist impact.
"We plan to build a venue that can simultaneously train 1,000 robots by 2027," Shi said.
The Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), a third-generation medium-energy synchrotron light source facility with 46 laboratories, has been operating around the clock to serve researchers from around the country, whose experiments cover a wide range of fields such as life sciences, materials science and chemical catalysis.
"We are using the SSRF's light to observe the phase change process of this material when it's heated to 1,100 degrees Celsius," said Song Shuang, a PhD candidate of Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"Our team is developing materials for the energy sector," said Miao Zhikai, a researcher of Tianjin University.
"We are developing cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries," said Li Guodong, a researcher of Fudan University.
Though the laboratories at the SSRF have been running at full capacity, researchers still have to apply for them months in advance, reflecting the vibrancy of innovation in Shanghai.
Shanghai blazes sci-tech frontiers to boost innovation-driven modernization
