Before her 50th birthday, Chinese woman Zhong Juanjuan had little contact with video games. But after the coronavirus pandemic, she became a Counter-Strike pro who can take on even the best players.
Medically speaking, a person reaches the peak of their mental and physical performance at around the age of 25. After that, our reaction speed and the pace at which we process new information slowly but surely decline.
Many esports pros therefore often end their careers after just a few years. This is because it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with younger players as we get older. In fast-paced genres such as first-person shooters, fractions of a second often determine success or failure.
However, a Counter-Strike streamer from China is not letting her age stop her and is just getting started at the age of 59. Just recently, Aunt Juan
defeated two of the best professional players in Counter-Strike 2.
Ten years ago, it was anything but likely that Zhong Juanjuan would one day become a big streamer. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese woman from Meizhou in Guangdong province had nothing to do with video games.
During the pandemic lockdown, Zhong was looking for a new pastime and was introduced to digital gaming by her son – initially with only moderate success: When I started, I kept running into walls. I was running and looking up at the sky,” Zhong describes in a report by Chinese news portal Sixth Tone.
In a moment that blurred the line between grassroots livestreaming and elite esports, 66的娟姨 (Auntie Juan) — a 59-year-old streamer from China’s southern Guangdong province — did the unthinkable. During a friendly exhibition match, she landed a fatal blow, or “one-tap,” on… pic.twitter.com/9nWdvkLVyJ
— Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) January 29, 2026
Within a few years, however, Aunt Juan
became a real expert and began streaming successfully. Her favorite game: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or Counter-Strike 2. Zhong now has over 8,000 hours on the clock in Valve’s shooter.
And it’s clearly paying off: During a recent friendly match with several streamers and esports pros, Zhong defeated 19-year-old Danil “Donk” Kryshkovets, one of the best CS players ever, and 24-year-old Sh1ro with so-called one-taps. This refers to a single, fast, and precise headshot.
You can also find the relevant excerpts from the match in the Twitter video linked above. The clip caused a stir among many players on the Chinese internet. Considering that Aunt Juan only started playing a few years ago, she’s now pretty damn good. So good that even at the age of 59, she can still compete with real professional players. Most of us probably couldn’t do that even in our prime.
