The elementary school student who is revolutionizing swimming

BarcelonaZidi Yu has already made a name for herself in the world of swimming at just 12 years old. The Chinese athlete fell just six hundredths of a second short of bronze in the 200m individual medley at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore. With a time of 2:09.21, she surpassed the best Spanish time in this category, achieved by Catalan Mireia Belmonte at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona (2:09.45).

Zidi Yu's case stands out for her precocity, but there are increasingly more extremely young athletes reaching high performance levels. "There's a good part to this: talent recruitment is working very well. But there are also risks. Age isn't necessarily associated with maturity, but at 12 years old, maturity is unlikely to be present," analyzes sports psychologist Vicenç Raluy in ARA.

The Chinese swimmer barely finished sixth grade. It all started at a water park, where she was scouted by a coach, and over the years she has found it difficult to balance training with her studies. "I almost gave up swimming before the 2024 Chinese national championships because I was tired of doing both. Fortunately, thanks to my coaches, teammates, friends, and family, I realized that swimming was a fundamental part of my life and that I couldn't just give in to news of Yudi Xidi."

In this sense, Raluy focuses on the people around the athlete. "Skipping vital stages is dangerous. At least someone should be watching over them so they don't miss out on stages of socialization or identity. Under the spotlight, the danger lies in whether they'll know how to handle the mistake. It's very nice when everything is going well, but one day they'll lose, they won't meet people's expectations, they'll get injured... This is where it belongs."

The key, the environment

Thus, Zidi Yu's environment is a key factor in determining how far the Chinese swimmer can go. She's young, but when we're talking about 15 or 16-year-olds, you come across athletes who seem mature. And they are, because they've truly had to make a living. The young Barcelona star allegedly has an "irregular" environment. This has forced him to toughen up. "We'll have to see how he reacts when he doesn't live up to expectations. For now, he seems like someone who hasn't had as easy a life as others and who has learned things along the way."

Skipping the rules

Although the World Swimming Federation regulations set the age limit for participation in the championships at 14, an exception has been made for Zidi Yu after achieving the minimum required mark. However, the psychologist believes that other variables should be taken into account when deciding whether he can participate at 12. "We're talking about results, not how the person is feeling. This is the great danger: that results take precedence over performance, learning, and progress."

In any case, there are still two events left in Singapore where Zidi Yu will be seen. The first will be this Wednesday in the 200m butterfly, a competition where she holds the seventh-best time of 2025 (2:06.83). Among her rivals will be Spain's Laura Cabanes. And on Sunday, the Chinese swimmer will compete in the 400m individual medley, an event in which she holds the fifth-best time of 2025 (4:35.53), alongside Spaniards Emma Carrasco and Alba Vázquez. In both events, she will face off against Canada's Summer McIntosh, her greatest rival to beat at these World Championships in Singapore.