One hand controls the wheelchair to achieve precise teleportation between square inches, and the other hand holds the racket, buckles, cuts, picks, and hangs to firmly suppress the opponent. Xue Juan, who won the women's TT3 singles and team championship at the Paralympic Games for two consecutive times, shows in her own way the courage and energy to reach the top in the face of adversity.
Xue Juan, who looks well-proportioned, often encounters the problem of not being able to wear clothes, because her arms are beyond the thickness of ordinary people. "The strength of the arm is crucial, so we train with great intensity every day, and the daily practice of movements is not a race racket, but a specially customized iron racket, and the dumbbells will also desperately add up when practicing strength, at the end of the day, the word 'soreness' is no longer indescribable, the arm is no longer their own, especially painful, especially numb, and I don't know where to put it when I sleep."
For Xue Juan, an athlete with a disability, playing in a wheelchair, whether it is body movement or serving and playing, mainly relies on both arms, such as the most basic problem - movement. "In the beginning, I couldn't play in a wheelchair because my attention was on the hand that was playing, and the hand that operated the wheelchair forgot to move. It took more than a year of training to get used to it. ”
V-neck sweater ICICLE
"Slow adaptation" is long-term, large-scale repetitive training, because it is necessary to forcibly establish the consciousness of body movement through hand movements. "Throwing downs, falling, rollovers, it's a common thing, sometimes you have to reach a ball with a very small angle, the wheelchair is desperately forward, and finally the whole body falls on the table."
And no matter how painful the fall was, no matter how uncertain the future was, Xue Juan never wanted to give up. "I can do what others can do" is her always remembered words, and with her strong will of steel, she has walked a life path from a disabled girl in the countryside to an Olympic champion.
Xue Juan was less than 1 year old, because of polio and left a lifelong disability, after graduating from junior high school employment difficulties, she can only rely on hand knitting for a business, until the age of 17, by chance, she obtained the qualification to participate in the selection of disabled athletes, because of the long arm and large palm, the congenital conditions are more advantageous, successfully passed the test, was included in the shortlist.
It's hard to imagine a Paralympic champion not really getting into the sport she works on until she is 18 years old, and with twists and turns in between, at countless turning points in her fate, if Xue Juan wavers even the slightest, she will miss her dreams.
The cruelty of competitive sport is equal to all those who participate in it, and it is not taken into account because of who has a disability.
In 2007, in time for the Lunar Chinese New Year's Eve, Xue Juan arrived in Beijing by train to begin her three-month training. "This is a probationary period, and if you fail the test, you will be eliminated."
At that time, Xue Juan, who had no foundation in table tennis, used eight words to describe her training during this period: hard-working, stupid birds fly first. Training conditions are limited, there are only two standard training tables, practice needs to line up, and new players like Xue Juan can only go to the back, so late-night practice has become the norm, after one or two o'clock is really sleepy, lie on the ground in the stadium, wake up and watch the old players train, silently study.
Everything that the diligent and hardworking Xue Juan did was seen by the coach. At the end of three months, she was left behind and embarked on her own ping-pong journey, speeding through day-to-day training.
Metal earrings Le Mandorle
Crewneck top Personal belongings
But the test came again. In 2010, Xue Juan's team was disbanded due to poor performance, the players were idle, training was interrupted, and this road to table tennis seemed to come to an end. "I am unwilling, since I started playing, I have a big dream, that is, to be on the top podium of the Olympic Games like my senior brother and sister."
At that time, with an uncertain future, she said to herself: "You have to fight for a breath, you can't give up, you don't leave yourself regrets." "Xue Juan lives in a rented house, sells trinkets on the ground, and the money she earns is not only basic living expenses, but also training." Go to the club to train at your own expense and can't and don't want to stop. ”
From the dissolution of the team after the Spring Festival to the reorganization of the team in the autumn, Xue Juan couldn't tell what kind of mentality she had persevered in the past half a year, but looking back at all this, she thanked herself for gritting her teeth at that time. "Looking back on that time, although it felt very low, it was not a bad thing for the whole sports career, it was another experience in life."
More than a year later, Xue Juan was selected for the national team with the second place in the singles of the national championships, and when she received the notice, her first thought was: "Great, now we can finally play more matches." Soon, Xue Juan shined. The Asian Championships, Asian Games, World Championships, singles runner-up, team champion, visible improvement gave her a valuable opportunity to participate in the Rio Paralympic Games.
TT3 women's singles champion and team champion, in ignorance, Xue Juan has already stood on the championship podium: "When I stood there, I couldn't believe it, I was confused. The first time I participated in the Olympics, I had neither pressure nor confidence, so I played according to my training level, and the result went to the end. ”
2021, Tokyo Paralympics, TT3 Women's Table Tennis Singles Final.
11-2, 11-6, 11-9, 3:0, Xue Juan won the Olympic championship in this event with undoubted strength, and joined hands with her teammates to win the team gold medal again. "It's a blessing to win in Rio because I'm not so sure of my qualities, but at the Tokyo Olympics I was more confident."
Xue Juan won a double title at the Tokyo Paralympic Games
From ability to mentality, from Rio to Tokyo, five years have passed, and Xue Juan has become more mature. "Whether it's staying competitive or creating brilliance, it's all about perseverance. What I asked of myself was to step off the podium and start everything from scratch. ”
Xue Juan (front row, first from left) serves as the flag guard for the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games
And Xue Juan's life has also completed one new plan after another with her own efforts. In 2017, Xue Juan entered the palace of marriage; In 2018, he entered Beijing Sport University to study sports training. With only a junior high school diploma, she can imagine the difficulties she encountered in her studies. "There was an idea that athletes can't be as well-limbed and simple-minded as people say, and I wanted to do my best to do everything I could."
Xue Juan's diploma from Beijing Sport University
Before the Spring Festival in 2023, Xue Juan upgraded to become a mother as she wished, and when she was seven or eight months pregnant, she knitted small hats and shoes for the baby with a big belly. She also has a lot of reverie about the future of her children, and everything is developing in a better direction. "People with disabilities are indeed prone to low self-esteem, even if I win the Olympic championship now, I still can't overcome this low self-esteem in some aspects, but if everyone can find what they like, to persevere, to work hard, and have their own strengths, you will gain a better version of yourself."
BAZAAR: In your opinion, what kind of behavior is "brave"?
Xue Juan: In so many years in the national team, I have never taken a leave of absence due to injury, I often say that my biggest advantage is to be able to endure hardships, determine goals, and keep going no matter what, not afraid of people, not afraid of things, overcome all difficulties, I think this is the greatest bravery.
BAZAAR: When you first started in the industry, did you ever face questions about your gender, professional ability, etc.? Has this questioning bothered you? How was it faced at the time?
Xue Juan: Absolutely. I was the last to join the team, and I was zero-based, and I had to wait for the other players to finish training before I could get to the table, and in this situation, I felt that all I could do was to practice well and practice so that others could believe in your good results.
BAZAAR: Today, you are a leader in your field; What would you say to a newcomer who has just entered the industry, suffered from gender discrimination or questioned abilities, just like you did then?
Xue Juan: I often participate in some public welfare activities for the disabled, from low self-esteem and resistance, these are common phenomena in our group, I will use my own experience to tell them that the outside world is very exciting, go out and take a look, find what you are interested in, cultivate some specialties, will benefit from it.
BAZAAR: When did you think back to your career or experience over the years, when was the hardest hurdle? How did you get out of the difficult situation at that time?
Xue Juan: The most difficult thing was the time when the team was disbanded in 2010, I didn't know where the future was, but I was not willing to give up, at that time, I told myself to persevere, try to compress living expenses, set up a stall to earn money, and go to the club to train at my own expense.
How long have you not been "brave"?
In the face of difficulties and doubts, change and turmoil, "bravery" is always our most worthy card. It can bless any card – love, wisdom, hard work, tenacity... In combination with "brave", you can always play "king fried" in a variety of situations!
In March, we invite women from different fields to trace the stories of those who fought for more voice for women and bravely moved forward in order to "be heard" and "seen" - they used film creation to convey women's true thinking, used wonderful performances and philosophies to break the law of "male dominance" on the classical music stage, used design language to rethink the relationship between women's bodies and the world, and used hard work on the field to convey the Olympic spirit of equality with men...
Achieve self with fearlessness and deliver voice with action. Their existence is meaning itself. Although the "festival" is precious, every day they bravely create is more memorable.
This spring is more to look forward to than ever, and it needs to draw more strength. "Bravery" is the power that Bazaar Chimi Women wants to pass on in 2023.
On March 16, Harper's Bazaar and Avita will host an offline forum in Shanghai, joining hands with 7 "brave" intelligent and beautiful women from different fields, walking into the folds of their life stories, seeing and listening to each other's growth, witnessing their stories of pleasing themselves for women to be "heard" and "seen", turning brave faith into spring fire, and awakening new voices of women's independence.
Editor/Wen Ji
Photo by Zhang Hongkai (K FRAME)
Interview, text/An Lan
Makeup, hairstyle/Li Weiya
Styling/Ginger
TYPOGRAPHY/YUER
Some pictures are from Xue Juan's Weibo