Newman Huo
AUSTRALIAN round-the-world teen sailor Jessica Watson has become an honorary ambassador for the China Cup International Regatta.
She received an official certificate from Li Quanhai, deputy director of the Water Sports Administration Center and vice president of the Chinese Yachting Association, at the Shenzhen Longcheer Yacht Club in Longgang District on Saturday.
Asked if she had been paid to be an official ambassador for the China Cup, Watson said: I love sailing. I have an interest in anything related to the sport. I believe it is an honor rather than a commercial act to be the ambassador for the China Cup.
My aim is to introduce the sport to more young people around the world, said the 17-year-old from Buderim, Queensland.
It was Watson s first visit to Shenzhen. She shared her round-the-world solo sailing experiences with students at Shenzhen Foreign Languages School in Yantian District on Friday.
In May 2010, Watson became the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world, although her route did not meet World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) criteria for circumnavigating the globe.
Watson departed Sydney on Oct. 18, 2009, heading east over the Pacific, Atlantic and the Indian oceans.
When she returned to Sydney on May 15 this year, three days before her 17th birthday, she was hailed as our newest Australian hero by the then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
I don t consider myself a hero. I m an ordinary girl who believed in a dream and you don t have to be someone special to achieve something amazing, she said.
Watson is now planning to obtain a driving license, finish school and spend some time being a normal teenager.
