Yu Zidi, the 12-year-old Chinese girl challenging the world swimming system

There are times when a sporting story transcends records, medals, or podium finishes. And sometimes a 12-year-old girl, still old enough to be “running around the park, catching bugs,” emerges from the pool at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore and shifts the focus of an entire championship. This is what Yu Zidi, a Chinese prodigy, has done, not only astonishing spectators with her performances but also putting the international federation itself in jeopardy, which is now considering changing its rules in her case.

Yu finished fourth in the 200m individual medley, just six hundredths of a second off the bronze medal, and on Thursday she repeated the same position in the 200m butterfly final. She did so with a time of 2:06.43, just 31 hundredths of a second off the bronze medal taken by Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers. But, beyond the result, she once again demonstrated that she’s not at the World Championships by accident: at just 12 years old, she’s rubbing shoulders with the world’s elite.

Yu’s appearance has unleashed a whirlwind. “We never imagined a 12-year-old girl would swim like that,” confessed Brent Nowicki, executive director of World Aquatics, the international federation. The rules allow children under 14 to compete only if they achieve the minimum A marks. But hardly anyone thought any children would ask to try. Yu did so at the Chinese national championships. “Our standards are so strict that I didn’t think a girl that young had the potential to achieve those times,” added Nowicki, making it clear that the federation will review the rules: “We’ll take a look and see if we need to take further steps or if we’re comfortable where we are.”

The truth is that her appearance has sparked a profound debate that goes beyond the sporting sphere: to what extent is it fair, or ethical, for a girl to train and compete at this level? What physical and mental implications does it have? Is she ready, or is she being dragged along by an overly greedy system?

In China, her participation is defended as part of a sporting culture that rewards excellence from an early age with economic and social compensation that extends to the athlete’s entire family. But outside of that context, inevitable warnings arise. “When I was 12, I was still running around the park, catching bugs and having a good time,” recalled David Popovici, a world champion at 17, when asked about Yu’s case. “I hope she has a good support team, because the road ahead isn’t easy.”

Comparisons are inevitable. Inge Sorensen won bronze in the 200 breaststroke at the 1936 Berlin Olympics at just 12 years old. Like Yu, she sparked a controversy over the minimum age and the impact on children’s health. Sorensen, who would go on to win Nordic and European championships, was never able to attend another Olympic event: the war intervened. In other cases, such as Japan’s Kyoko Iwasaki (Olympic gold at 14 in 1992) or Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi (gold at 14 in 1988), great starts were preludes to memorable careers.

In modern swimming, Ye Shiwen, also Chinese, won a World Championship at 15 and was a double Olympic champion in London in 2012, before stagnating at records that became irrelevant in adulthood. But every body is different. So is every childhood. And that’s the bottom line: Yu Zidi is still a child. An exceptional child, no doubt. But a child.

Now that the international federation is considering toughening the requirements, perhaps definitively setting the minimum age at 14, Yu’s story becomes more than a sporting phenomenon: it’s a warning and an opportunity. “She’s great, she has a great future, and hopefully good things will come out of this,” Nowicki said. But he added: “We have to be careful. We don’t want to tip the scales in the opposite direction.”

Yu contested another final on Thursday. She performed just as she had in the 200m medley: achieving a notable fourth place and coming within striking distance of a historic podium finish. But what she’s already achieved goes far beyond a medal: she’s challenged an entire system.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition