Sunshine, exuberance, great athleticism. The Olympic Qualifying Series Shanghai kicked off in grand style on Thursday at the Huangpu Riverside, with enthusiastic spectators swarming into the venue to experience the festival-style event.▲The Olympic Qualifying Series Shanghai kicks off at the Huangpu Riverside in Shanghai on Thursday. [Photo/Xinhua]Competitions for skateboarding street, skateboarding park and boulder climbing started with the preliminary rounds on the first day of the event, which ends on Sunday. The four-day series has attracted 464 top athletes to compete in BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding and sport climbing, vying for berths at this year's Olympic Games in Paris."I think the atmosphere and competition venue at the event exceeded my expectations. There were even more spectators than at the Asian Games," said 17-year-old Zhang Jie, the only Chinese street skateboarder in the event and the gold medalist in men's street skateboarding at the Asian Games in Hangzh
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