(from CGTN China)

China will send 405 athletes, including 42 Olympic champions, to the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. 37-year-old race walker Liu Hong, who is on her fifth Olympic trip, will be the oldest athlete. Despite her advancing age, Liu says she's determined to push herself to the limit and win gold. Wang Siwen has the story. 

Numerous global titles have established Liu Hong as one of the world's veteran race walkers. A three-time Olympic medalist, Paris 2024 will be Liu's fifth Olympics. After claiming gold in the women's 20-kilometer race walk at the Rio Olympics in 2016, Liu retired and gave birth to her daughter Xixi. But her passion for race walking remained.

LIU HONG, Athlete, Women's 20km Race Walking "Although I left the arena, I paid attention to the events and performance of Chinese athletes. Then I took my child to watch games and participate in amateur competitions. I found that I still yearned for the feeling of competition on the field."

Six months after giving birth, Liu returned to the field, but getting back to full fitness wasn't easy.

LIU HONG, Athlete, Women's 20km Race Walking "I couldn't reach the level I thought I could reach, I had to slowly build it back up from the bottom. The process was very difficult."

Her family and the team's support played a crucial role in Liu's return, and her success. For Liu, balancing training with family is part of the wisdom of life.

LIU HONG, Athlete, Women's 20km Race Walking "I didn't want to just give birth and not raise my child. And I didn't want to miss any stage of my child's growth. As a mother, I still hope to see my child grow through every life stage. At the time we thought we could take her with us when going to training and competitions."

Since Xixi was two-years-old, she's accompanied her mother to training and competition venues, both domestic and overseas. Passing water and cheering for her mom, Xixi, six now, is always by Liu's side.

LIU HONG, Athlete, Women's 20km Race Walking "What I find most incredible is that she can ride a bicycle for 25-kilometers. She could ride for 25-kilometers when she was 5 years old."

Since her return, Liu has won different titles and claimed bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. Now, Liu will take her daughter to Paris. When talking about her fifth Olympics, she's determined and relaxed.

LIU HONG, Athlete, Women's 20km Race Walking "Much of the time, the process determines the goal, so you have to cover every aspect of the process well and try to make as few mistakes as possible. That way you can better focus, and perform better, during the game. Then the results definitely won't be bad."

Liu says the key to her success is working hard, and persisting over the long term.

LIU HONG, Athlete, Women's 20km Race Walking "As an athlete for over twenty years, I'm unlike those who won in their first Olympic Games, or who got a good ranking in their first competition. For me, I went through many failures, setbacks and challenges before I have the achievements I do today. For me personally, I think it's because I persisted for long enough. Race walking is a long-distance event. It's achieved step by step. There's no shortcut. You have to walk more than ten- to twenty-kilometers every day. It involves a long-term training process. In fact, race walking looks like a very simple repetitive action, but you have to keep repeating it for 10-thousand to 20-thousand steps and accumulate them every day. There's a saying that 'small steps lead to a thousand miles.' I think this quote is at the core of race walking, and the best explanation for it."

Liu says race walking is similar to life, involving one step at a time until the quantity of one's actions, is transformed into quality.