Text | Wang Zhenyi
Edit | Noisy
In 1998, 17-year-old gymnast Sunland attached great importance to the Fourth American Friendship Games. In her plan, she must achieve good results in this games, then win an Olympic gold medal, retire to study, and finally become a gymnastics coach.
The year before that, she had won gold medals in both the National Championships and the National Games in vaulting, and her vault was recognized as the first in the country.
However, she could not imagine that this American Friendship Games ended her athlete career and completely changed the trajectory of her life.
Just after 6 p.m. on July 21 of that year, at the Long Island Gymnastics Gymnastics Hall in New York, Sunland chose to warm up with a "hand flip body" that had been done thousands of times, and she successfully completed the first time, and the second time, she decided to do it again.
She ran, jumped, took off, and in just a few seconds, an "accident" occurred, and Sunland was supposed to land on both feet, but her neck hit the mat, causing a fracture of the cervical vertebrae and paraplegia below the chest.
Now that 23 years have passed, how is Sunland doing? What has she experienced in the past 23 years?
01
The day after Sunland's accident, the Organizing Committee of the Friendship Games organized 8 relevant people to attend a press conference to report on Sunland's injuries and claim that Sunland's accident was purely accidental. Sunland also said it was an accident after waking up.
And because Zhao Yuxin, the leader of the Chinese gymnastics team at that time, told the media that Sunland's first words after waking up were: "Can I still practice?" Sunland became the embodiment of inspiration and strength, the media began to call her "smiling angel", and many big people came to visit her.
And under the arrangement of the Gymnastics Association, Sunland was treated and recuperated in the United States, and Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong served as her guardians in the United States.
This Liu Guosheng is an overseas Chinese with great economic strength. In 1988, he invested in and founded a company in Beijing, becoming one of the three fixed-point printing units of China's welfare lottery, and he also became the first foreign businessman in the world to intervene in the Chinese lottery. When the sports department began to issue long-term sports lottery tickets in 1994, Liu Guosheng's company became the designated production unit of China's sports lottery.
The lottery business made Mr. Liu a fortune until his company exited China in 2003.
During this period, Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong sponsored the Gymnastics Association, and Xie Xiaohong also served as the honorary vice chairman of the Gymnastics Association, which was entrusted by Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong Receptor Gymnastics Association after Sunland's high paraplegia to take care of Sunland's affairs in the United States.
Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong took care of this for 10 months. At that time, no one could have predicted that 13 years later, Sun lan, Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong would "turn against each other."
Everyone also did not expect that before leaving the United States, in an interview with CCTV sports host Ning Xin, Sunland overturned the claim that the injury was due to accidents. She said: "My jumping movement is very familiar, I feel that the front is very good on the starting track, running to the middle of the last three steps or so before the board, I saw a Romanian male coach, he was going to drag the mat away, because his team members had just finished jumping, but at that time I was already halfway running, he came to drag the mat, my speed was so fast that I couldn't control it, I wanted to shout him to let go, but I didn't know how, as if the dream was that I couldn't shout out, and all of a sudden I lay on the ground." ”
At that time, although Sunland's statement attracted a certain degree of attention, the real national buzz was in 2011, and this was related to a man.
02
In early November 1999, Sunland's teammate mo huilan on the gymnastics team took a man to visit Sunland at his home.
Before meeting Sunland, the man felt that Sunland was a big celebrity in the sports world, and even if he was paraplegic, he should be managed by someone to eat and wear.
But when he arrived at Sunland's house, he found that the living conditions of Sunland's family were not good. After some exchanges, the man learned that because there was no event insurance at that time, the State General Administration of Sport and the Zhejiang Sports Bureau each paid Sunland 200,000 yuan, and the Zhejiang Sports Team paid Sunland a monthly salary of 1,600 yuan and a nanny fee of 600 yuan.
These costs are a drop in the bucket for Sunland's long-term rehabilitation. In order to save money, Sunland will use the catheters after washing, and the water for washing clothes at home will be saved to flush the toilet.
Sunland's situation made the man sympathetic, and he decided to help a group of Sunland, and the man's name was Huang Jian.
Huang Jian, a former fencer, retired from the Beijing Fencing Team in 1997. After retiring from the army, Huang Jian worked as a physical education teacher in school and worked for a period of time in the tertiary production company under the State General Administration of Sports.
By chance, he saw the news of the sports agent in the sports newspaper, and at that time there was no professional sports agent in China, Huang Jian decided to try it, and this test also made him successful.
Huang Jian used his professional advantages to start taking some activities for Sunland to help her increase some income.
However, the two terminated their cooperation in 2002, the year Sunland entered the journalism department of Peking University, where she also served as the host of a star TV program and opened a sports commentary column in many media. Huang Jian went to Shenzhen to work as a football agent.
Before the two re-connected in 2006, the two only contacted once or twice in 4 years, so that for a while Huang Jian felt that Sunland was very ignorant, "I help you so much, I don't take the initiative to make a phone call, send a text message to greet you." ”
When Huang Jian returned to Beijing in 2006, he still took the initiative to call Sunland, and the two talked on the phone for half an hour, and Sunland offered to "not see each other for a long time, let's have a meal together." ”
So Huang Jian drove to Peking University, and in the process of eating, he learned that Sunland's situation was not very good at that time, and there was a conflict with the agent, and she hoped that Huang Jian could help her arrange some activities.
Huang Jian did not refuse, he found that after studying at Peking University, Sunland matured a lot.
After a year of getting along like this, Huang Jian's feelings for Sunland have changed, and he feels that Sunland is "like my sister, very close, when going out, it will be very worried and can't be put down." And in this year, he and his girlfriend in Shenzhen entered the palace of marriage.
It's just that because Huang Jian takes care of Sunland like a relative, Huang Jian's wife is very jealous of this.
Unfortunately, the marriage ended in 2009, and Huang Jian said that the reason for the divorce was not because of Sunland, but because of the emotional estrangement caused by the long-term separation of the two places.
After regaining their freedom, Huang Jian and Sunland warmed up their feelings in the process of getting along, and in 2010, Sunland announced his relationship with Huang Jian on his social account.
As soon as the romance was announced, Huang Jian suffered criticism, and many people believed that Huang Jian and Sunlan's motives together were not pure, and it was a profit.
It's just that these criticisms are nothing compared to what happened to him in 2011.
03
In April 2011, at the suggestion of Huang Jian, Sunland decided to fight a transnational lawsuit, and she "wanted to find out the truth of that year."
Sunland sued 5 institutions and 3 individuals, namely Time Warner, the American Gymnastics Association, two insurance institutions under TIG, an insurance agency company called RIVERSTONE, Ted Turner, founder of the Friendship Games, Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong.
Against the eight defendants, Sunland's indictment lists 18 allegations, each with a claim amount of $100 million.
Sunland's behavior shocked the public in China and the United States who are concerned about this incident, was the accident in Sunland in 1998 an accident or was it because the male coach of the Romanian team dragged away the mat?
For a while, everyone was talking about it.
What makes everyone feel even more incomprehensible is that Sunland actually sued Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong, after all, it was these two sons who took care of her in the United States. Sunland sued Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong on the grounds of inadequate guardianship, invasion of privacy, and unjust enrichment.
What makes everyone even more incredible is that in July of that year, Sunland went to a police station in New York to report the case, accusing Liu Guosheng and his son Xue Weisen of X-assaulting her 13 years ago. However, because the police felt that the details of Sunland's report could not withstand reasonable questioning, the case was not accepted.
Whether Sunland was violated by X or not has become a mystery, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.
But Sunland "annoyed" Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong, who denounced Sunland for being ungrateful in front of the media, and they also said that Sunland targeted them in order to obtain a U.S. visa. Under U.S. law, victims of criminal cases can obtain special visas.
Suddenly, the "smiling angel" label that once appeared on Sunland was gone, and she became a "troublemaker", some people said that she was a "sensational and ungrateful villain", and even many people questioned that Sunland was used by Huang Jian.
At that time, Sang Lan and Huang Jian were insulted, slandered, and insulted. Later, recalling this past, Sunland confessed: "It is as if the world is on the opposite side of both of us." I'm an athlete and I don't like to cry, but at that moment I felt like I was really broken. ”
Fortunately, they all carried it in the end, and Sunland and the American Gymnastics Association and the three insurance companies she sued reached a settlement, they had a three-hour closed-door meeting together, signed a settlement agreement, the American Gymnastics Association and the three insurance companies admitted that Sunland's injury at the 1998 American Friendship Games was not a personal error, and the insurance company paid $10 million to increase the payment of some medical expenses in China.
After this, Sunlan and Huang Jian's life returned to calm,
At the end of 2013, they entered the palace of marriage, and on April 14, 2014, their son Huang Xiaobao was born in Beijing Aviation General Hospital.
Sunland has a happy family of three, and Huang Jian's doubts about whether Sunland is sincere are also broken.
However, in 2015, an article by Xinhua Net pushed Sunland to the cusp of the storm again.
04
In 2015, Xinhua published an article titled "The 'Removal of the Mat' Accusation Is Unfounded- Sunland's Truth Investigation into The Fall." The article is based on a video analysis report of an American sports scientist on Sunland's accident, which pointed out that the truth of Sunland's fall was not because the Romanian male coach removed the mat, but because Sunland stepped on the front of the pedal in the process of doing the action, resulting in an accident when he fell.
For such a "truth", Sunland responded by posting a long article on his social account, angrily denouncing the author of the article for his impure motives and throwing dirty water.
Sunland also said that the case against the American organizers has passed the prosecution period, and she has admitted the outcome of the case, after all, "we still have to live and survive." She didn't understand why it had to be brought up in 2015 to hurt her again.
Huang Jian bluntly said that since the transnational lawsuit, their lives have been very peaceful, and they also cherish their hard-won happy little days, but this article by Xinhua Net has broken this calm.
Was it just an accident or was it because the Romanian male coach removed the mat? It is still a mystery, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.
Now, 5 years after 2015, Sunland's life has once again returned to calm. Although she still can't stand now, she has come out of her pain and faced life positively and optimistically.
Even in December 2020, Sunland also participated in the variety show "Hello Mother", in which Sunland showed the camera the daily details of his turning over, sitting up, taking medicine and so on, and his mental outlook was very good.
In this show, Sunland's son Huang Xiaobao also appeared on camera, and the reporter asked him: "What if the father is old and can't hold the mother?" ”
Huang Xiaobao replied firmly, "I'll hug my mother." Sunland, who heard these words, burst into tears in an instant.
Talking about the past in this show, Sunland said emotionally: "After those years of grinding, I am stronger and more confident, because the experience has made me full and full. Thank you to all those who care about me! Be thankful to have you along the way! ”
I have to say that no matter what the truth of the matter is, in the face of such a big change in life, Sunland's happy life today is not easy to come by, and I wish her a better life in the future.