The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games schedule has passed the halfway mark, and China's athletes have achieved gratifying results through hard work, and behind these honorary medals is the perseverance and difficulty of athletes over the years.
Once the athletes stand on the field to represent the whole country, the sense of mission on their bodies does not allow them to relax for a moment, but the reality is always cruel, and athletes often get injured due to accidents on the field, especially competitive athletes.
Because they have to do a lot of difficult moves, injuries are inevitable, some can make up for it in time, and some can be healed by relying on time, but for Sunland,
The accident in July 1998 left her with lifelong regrets, not only burying her supposedly brilliant career, but also allowing her to spend the rest of her life in injury.
From 1998, after an accidental injury on the field, Sunland, who was in a wheelchair, suffered an irreproducible life experience, and now 23 years have passed, how is Sunland living? Was the injury an accident or did it hide some other story?
01, unexpectedly, a rising star suddenly fell
July 21, 1998, I believe it is a day that many people cannot forget. Sunland was only 17 years old at the time and was representing China at the Fourth American Friendship Games, a day when, like other athletes, she warmed up for pre-competition training at the Long Island Gymnastics Hall in New York to prepare for the official competition a few days later.
Before participating in this competition, Sunland won the National Vault Championship, and her talent is awe-inspiring, and if nothing else, she will also be the ultimate champion of the vaulting event of this competition.
But the accident happened. At around 6 p.m., after the Romanian runner in front of him completed the action, Sunland was ready to continue his third practice, first with a running aid, then a jump, and after a few seconds of briefly taking off in the air...
Sunland, who was supposed to land on her feet, landed on her head and neck this time, and the consequence was that she could not move and fell into a coma.
In the first time after Sunland's injury, Sunland's coach and staff immediately sent her to a nearby hospital for treatment, after the doctor's examination and diagnosis, Sunland had multiple fractures in the upper body, the most serious of which was a cervical vertebrae fracture, which directly caused her paraplegia below the chest, which meant that Sunland could no longer stand up and could only spend the second half of her life in a wheelchair.
Just when the people around him were feeling sorry for what happened to Sunland, Sunland, who had been in a coma, finally woke up, and after seeing Zhao Yuxin, the leader of the Chinese gymnastics team, Sunland said the first words after the injury: When can I practice? This instinctive question from the bottom of my heart made Zhao Yuxin and the other Chinese members in the ward burst into tears.
But they understood that no amount of comforting language at this time was pale and weak, and for Sunland, what she needed most was the healing of time.
(Photo of Sunland while hospitalized in the United States)
Under the arrangement of the Gymnastics Association, Sunland was temporarily left in the United States to continue treatment and recuperation, all the expenses were borne by the Association, and in order to facilitate Sunland's life, the American overseas Chinese Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong became Sunland's guardians in the United States.
Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong are not only successful businessmen with deep pockets, but also representatives of the gymnastics association, out of sympathy for Sunland's suffering, the two gladly accepted the appointment of the association to take care of all of Sunland's life in the United States.
10 months later, Sunland was ready to leave for China, and before leaving, she bid farewell to Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong affectionately, thanking each other for everything they had done for themselves.
At this time, no one could have predicted that Sunland would personally take Liu Guosheng and his son to court 13 years later.
(Group photo of Sun lan, Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong)
Before returning home, Sunland also did one thing that can be understood as a prelude to the subsequent "claims incident". At that time, CCTV sports host Ning Xin happened to be on a business trip in the United States, and after getting the permission of Sunland himself, Ning Xin conducted a unique interview with Sunland.
In this interview, Sunland for the first time overturned the previous accidental injury, saying that the cause of his injury was due to the misconduct of Romanian gymnastics coach Belu.
As she was speeding up to take off, she saw Belu trying to remove the mat dedicated to the landing, which directly interfered with her, causing her to jump out of the movement to deform, and finally fell to the ground.
At that time, this interview attracted some attention after it was published, but it was quickly diluted by other news.
Sunland, who returned to China, became a strong and optimistic "smiling angel" in the eyes of the public, and also a big star in the sports world, and the reports on her experience can be seen on TV almost every two days, without exception, all of which are praised by Sunland, and in the eyes of outsiders, her life does not seem to be bad.
02, "Smiling Angel" Sunland was burst into a tight life, and the person who "saved" her came
In 1999, Sunland's former teammate Mo Huilan visited her at home, and also brought a person, this person is Huang Jian.
Huang Jian, a former fencer for Beijing and half of Sunland's peers, switched to a sports agent after officially retiring in 1997.
The reason why Mo Huilan took Huang Jian to visit Sanglan was also to introduce Huang Jian to her and promote the cooperation between the two.
And Huang Jian had imagined her situation before meeting Sunland, she was already a big star, she should be well-dressed and carefree, and as a result, after arriving at Sunland's house, Huang Jian found that there was a huge gap between everything and his imagination.
(Huang Jian held Sunland's former competition photo)
It turned out that the state compensation that Sunland received after returning to China was only 400,000 yuan and a salary subsidy of 2,200 yuan per month, which was a drop in the bucket for Sunland, who needed long-term rehabilitation treatment.
In order to save money, Sunland washed the catheter that was originally a disposable use and reused it repeatedly, completely disregarding the risk of causing infections inside the body. In order to reduce the cost of water, Sunland did not let the nanny pour out the water for washing clothes, and to keep it for flushing the toilet...
After seeing Sunland's poor life, Huang Jian's heart was greatly touched, and he decided to act as Sunland's agent to help her take more work and improve her life.
In this way, since 2000, Huang Jian began to work as Sunland's agent, helping her deal with brokerage business, and in the following year or so, Sunland's income did increase a lot, but with Sunland's enrollment in Peking University, this cooperation was terminated.
In 2002, Sunland went to Peking University to study, while Huang Jian went to Shenzhen to develop a career, and the connection between the two gradually decreased and began to grow strange.
In 2006, Huang Jian, who failed to start a business in Shenzhen, returned to Beijing, and he took the initiative to call Sunland, and the two met later.
This meeting changed many things, Huang Jian returned to Sunland again to continue to serve as her agent, and at the same time, the relationship between the two began to change slightly, at least there was a vague feeling in it.
(Sunland served as the torchbearer at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games)
In 2008, Sunland's name was closely linked to the Beijing Olympic Games, and she became the Olympic torchbearer and an officially appointed special correspondent to participate in and witness the Beijing Olympic Games.
During that time, Sunland always had a smile on his face, as if he had become a gymnast again.
In 2009, Huang Jian was exposed to divorce with his wife, because the husband and wife had been separated for a long time, Huang Jian had been in Beijing, and the other party had been in Shenzhen.
In September 2010, the news that Sunland was preparing for a huge overseas claim lawsuit broke out, and her and Huang Jian's relationship was also exposed.
When the reporter asked Huang Jian himself for verification, he got a response of "playing tai chi", he neither admitted nor denied it, and advised the reporter to pay more attention to the claim lawsuit.
03. Overseas claims lawsuits began, and Sunland became the focus of the topic
In April 2011, after nearly a year of preparation, Sunland set up a team of lawyers in the United States, and she simultaneously sued 5 corporate institutions and 3 individuals, namely Time Warner, The American Gymnastics Association, TIG's two insurance agencies, RIVERSTONE Insurance Agency, the founder of the Friendship Games, and Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong.
There are 18 allegations against these individuals, each claimed $100 million, for a total of $1.8 billion.
(Photo of Sunland himself)
The most unexpected thing for the outside world was Sunland's accusations against Liu Guosheng and his wife, and Sunland gave the grounds for poor guardianship, invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment.
In July of the same year, Sunland, accompanied by Huang Jian, went to the New York Police Department to report that Liu Guosheng's father and son had sexually assaulted her, and according to Sunland's own statement, Liu Guosheng's son had violated her from behind after Sunland was asleep, but because Sunland was still young at that time and did not understand what aggression was, he did not report the case for a long time.
However, two weeks later, New York police rejected Sunland's request to file a case on the grounds that "the details were doubtful".
In the face of Sunland's accusations, Liu Guosheng and his wife launched a counterattack, they denounced Sunland's behavior through the media, and said that Sunland fabricated the purpose of sexual assault cases in order to get a U.S. visa, because according to the U.S. law at that time, the victim could apply for a special visa or even "political asylum", and if they met the requirements, they could also get a U.S. green card, which was equivalent to taking a super shortcut of rapid immigration.
(Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong accused Sunland in front of the media)
After the claim incident broke out completely, the outside world's view of Sunland has also changed a lot, compared with the previous simple and optimistic "smiling angel", some people began to think that Sunland is a mercenary person, unscrupulous for financial benefits, and some people attribute the reason for Sunland's transformation to Huang Fitness, believing that Huang Jian is guiding this huge claim, and Sunland is just his "chess piece".
After months of tug-of-war, Sunland and Huang Jian behind her became temporary victors.
The Usabolic Gymnastics Association and three insurance agencies agreed to Sunland's out-of-court settlement, willing to admit that her injuries were not caused by personal causes, and the insurance agencies agreed to settle a $10 million claim and increase the reimbursement of medical expenses for the Chinese portion.
After receiving the compensation, Sunland dropped the charges against Liu Guosheng and his wife, but this move did not calm the anger of the other party, and the other party repeatedly called out to Sunland through the media to ask her to disclose the truth, but did not get a reply.
04, Sunland upgraded to a mother, a "storm of public opinion" that pointed out the truth of that year quietly arrived
In August 2013, Sunland and Huang Jian were officially engaged, and at the end of the same year, the two held a wedding in Beijing, at this time Sunland was already pregnant for several months, she did not heed the doctor's advice, insisted on getting pregnant and having a child, and Huang Jian, as a husband, also said in front of the media that he was looking forward to the birth of the two children.
(Sunland and Huang Jian show their marriage certificates)
In April 2014, Sunland gave birth to her son Huang Xiaobao, who was officially promoted to mother. Before this, the outside world was not optimistic about this marriage, especially Huang Jian, who has always been considered to be the initiator of the "claim incident", and the reason why he came together with Sunland was because of the huge compensation.
Now the relationship between the two of them is getting better and better, and there is also the crystallization of love, which finally makes those who have looked down on their feelings shut up.
However, the matter is far from over, and in November 2015, an article published on XinhuaNet completely broke Sunland's peaceful life and plunged her into the whirlpool of public opinion again.
(Xinhua published an article about Sunland)
The article, titled "The 'Removing the Mat' Accusation Is Unfounded— Sunland's Truth Investigation into Fall," points out that Sunland's injury accident was caused entirely by her own movement mistakes and had nothing to do with outsiders.
Professor Sands, a famous American sports scientist, concluded based on the video footage of the scene that Year: Sunland had a serious movement error when she took off, and her feet stepped on the forefront of the pedal, about 20 centimeters ahead of the standard position, and it was this 20 cm dislocation that caused Sunland's landing action to fail, and finally caused her to be paraplegic.
(Screenshot of Xinhua news agency article)
And the live video footage based on Professor Sands is also very promising, because the Sunland accident was during the informal competition, and the monitoring equipment in the stadium was not perfect.
Only the more obscure footage taken from a distance, after the Accident in Sunland, this set of official videos was protected as evidence.
Only those involved in the investigation of the incident could see it, including the American Gymnastics Association and Sunland himself.
At that time, the accident investigation team came to the official conclusion based on this set of official videos and other evidence: Sunland's injury was caused by accident, and Sunland herself initially agreed with this result, and then she stayed in the United States for 10 months of rehabilitation.
Just before Sunland was preparing to leave the United States and return to China, she suddenly overturned the previous remarks in an interview with CCTV reporter Ning Xin, saying that Romanian coach Belu's move to remove the mat was the direct cause of her injury.
(Sunland is incapacitated after the injury)
The Xinhua article not only lists the conclusions of Professor Sands' research, but also reveals more unknown details.
In fact, in addition to the official surveillance video of the competition venue, there was another person who filmed Sunland's entire injury process at close range at the scene, and this person was Carter, the coach of the Pakitz National Gymnastics Training Center in the United States.
Before Sunland's accident, Carter had been sitting on the side of the vaulting track watching the athletes train, and when Sunland was ready to try jumping, Carter took out the video recorder he carried with him.
He planned to take a picture of Sunland's test jump and take it back to the apprentices to learn from, but what Carter did not expect was that the last thing he photographed was the whole process of Sunland's accidental injury.
After the news of Sunland's accident was exposed, Carter did not stand up for the first time, and it was not until a month later that he accepted an interview with the American media, described the process of Sunland's injury in detail and accurately, and for the first time revealed the amazing news that he had a live video.
As soon as the news came out, it immediately aroused the attention of all walks of life, and many American media and officials wanted to get the video in Carter's hand, but they were rejected by Curt, because Carter believed that once the video was made public, it would aggravate the pain of Sunland himself, which was undoubtedly inhumane.
It wasn't until 2000 that Professor Sands got a copy of the video from Carter in the name of doing research, and he was restricted by Carter from making the details of the video public.
Although Sands kept his promise at first, in February 2015, Sands placed a screenshot of a 9-frame video footage of Sunland's injury on his personal webpage as a basis for his academic research.
Until this moment, the outside world finally had the opportunity to understand the real situation of that year.
(Screenshot of the exposed live video)
This 9-frame video screenshot shows Sunland from the pedals with both feet to the time her head and neck land, just as Sands describes in her conclusion.
Sunland's starting position is indeed at the forefront of the pedal, and the support spring under the plate in that part is more sparse than other positions.
Coupled with the circular arc design at the front of the pedal, it was not enough to support Sunland to complete the vacation action, and eventually her head and neck landed first, and tragedy occurred.
In the video, the Romanian coach Belu, who was originally accused by Sunland of removing the mat, stood on the side of the track the whole time and did not move position during the entire process of Sunland's jump from start-up to injury.
That is to say, Sunland's previous accusations are baseless, there is no such thing as Belu withdrawing the mat halfway, and even in the first time after Sunland was injured, Bellu was the first person to rush out to save her.
With the release of the Xinhua News Agency article and the release of the video screenshot that year, the attitude of the outside world towards Sunland has undergone a rapid change, from the original sympathy and pity for her, it has begun to be mixed with accusations and scolding, and many netizens have left messages on Sunland's Weibo, calling her a "liar" and "a white-eyed wolf without conscience"...
(Sunland tweeted back)
In the face of this sudden "storm", Sunland did not sit still, she and her husband Huang Jian repeatedly posted articles to fight back, denouncing the "immoral" behavior of the media and defending their innocence.
But at this time, the wind of public opinion has long been polarized, and Sunland and his family can only survive the controversy. As for what is the truth behind the incident? Perhaps in everyone's heart, there is a different answer.
05, after the storm, Sunland continued his stormy life
After this incident, Sunland and his family gradually disappeared from the public eye, until the end of 2020, Sunland appeared again because of participating in the variety show "Hello Mother", at this time, Sunland appeared in front of the camera, his demeanor was obviously more mature than before, and the whole person's state was very good.
In the program, Sunland excitedly showed the audience the results of her nearly 5 years of rehabilitation, and she was diagnosed by the doctor as a paraplegic, and she can already complete simple actions such as turning over and sitting up. In addition, Sunland's husband Huang Jian and son Huang Xiaobao have also appeared on camera many times, and the family of three is happy and harmonious.
(Group photo of three members of the Sunland family)
Sunland, who has been practicing gymnastics since he was less than 6 years old, was 10 years old when he won the first place in 5 events, including vaulting and balance beam, at the Zhejiang Provincial Games, and his gymnastics talent was fully displayed.
In 1993, Sunland officially entered the national gymnastics team, and two years later she began to represent the national gymnastics team in domestic and foreign competitions, and achieved impressive results, especially vaulting, which was recognized as Sunland's gold medal project.
But no one would have thought that her supposedly brilliant gymnastics career would finally be fixed on July 21, 1998, and everything would be changed on this day, including her life.
(Sunland when he was a child)
After experiencing a series of subsequent events, most people have forgotten what Sunland has achieved as a gymnast, and also forgotten that she went to the United States because she went to the United States to fight for honor for the country, so many people have stood on the moral high ground after the "East Window Incident" and accused and scolded Sunland.
(Sunland, who was galloping on the field that year)
For Sunland at that time, she was just a young girl who suffered misfortune, and after experiencing the hardships of life, she hoped to win something for herself through the law and make her life better in the future, that's all.
On the other hand, if Sunland's accident was all her own responsibility, then why were the insurance agencies in the United States willing to pay $10 million to settle it? Behind these results there must be truths that we cannot understand.
As for the marriage of Sunland and Huang Jian, it has been questioned, the two of them have proved everything with time, especially for Sunland, marriage and family are undoubtedly a good medicine, to a certain extent, accelerating the healing of her physical wounds, I believe that her future will be better and better.