Tokyo Paralympic Games The Chinese Paralympic delegation has won a total of 77 golds, 46 silvers and 44 bronzes, bringing the total number of medals to 167, ranking first in the gold medal list and medal list.
The total number of gold medals in the history of the Chinese Paralympic delegation in the Summer Paralympic Games has exceeded 500 (511), creating a new history.
These dazzling achievements deserve everyone's applause.
Disability may have drawn a less beautiful stroke on this special group of athletes, but sportsmanship makes these physically handicapped people move forward towards their dreams.
Because of their disability, they may have fallen to the bottom, but they did not give up, running, jumping, rowing the field, breaking through the limits of their bodies again and again, hitting the highest podium, and creating their own brilliance.
But the person we want to talk about today is from an athlete who is healthy and expected to become a world champion in the future, to a disabled person who can no longer engage in sports, falling into the abyss overnight from the clouds.
She is the former national team gymnast - Sunland.
In 1998, 17-year-old Sunland participated in the fourth American Friendship Games with the national team, but unexpectedly, he accidentally fell into a high paraplegia while preparing for the competition.
This accident not only brought her athletic career to an abrupt end, but also completely changed her entire life.
Now, 23 years later, how is the rising gymnastics star doing?
01
In 1981, in an ordinary family in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, Sunland was born.
As an only child, her parents regarded her as a pearl in their palms and hoped that she would be as elegant and pure as an orchid as her name.
When I was in kindergarten, the local children's sports school teachers came to the school to select young seedlings suitable for gymnastics.
At that time, the country's sports industry developed rapidly, and many later gymnastics world champions were selected in this way.
Little Sunland, although young and immature, has a very good sense of balance and good appearance conditions, and she was selected by the sports school teacher at once.
At first, when they learned that their daughter was selected to practice gymnastics, Sunland's parents were extremely disapproving.
Although Sunland's physical condition is good, it is too hard to take the road of sports, and there are so many people who practice gymnastics, but there are few who can become national champions and world champions.
Parents hope that Sang Lan can study steadily, be an ordinary person, and live this life ordinarily and healthily.
But Sunland doesn't think so, she is interested in gymnastics.
Compared with the small toys in kindergarten, the strange equipment in the sports school is much more interesting.
There are also brothers and sisters who practice gymnastics, turning their heads and turning individuals from time to time, which makes Sang Lan envious.
In this way, 6-year-old Sang Lan entered Ningbo Youth Sports School and began her indissoluble relationship with gymnastics.
Due to her good training results, in 1989, 8-year-old Sunlan officially entered Zhejiang Provincial Sports School, and in 1990, she was selected by the Zhejiang Provincial Physical Engineering Team (professional team) to continue more professional training.
In the time since, Sunland's gymnastics results have been on the rise.
In 1991, at the age of 10, Sang Lan won five first places in the 9th Zhejiang Provincial Games:
1st place on uneven bars; 1st place in vault; 1st place in floor exercise; 1st place on balance beam; First place in the all-around.
After achieving such dazzling results, in 1993, at the age of 12, Sunland was officially selected for the national gymnastics team and began to make a name for himself in various competitions across the country.
- In 1995, he won the first place in the individual all-around and vault at the "National Urban Games" in Nanjing;
- In 1996, he won the second place in the individual vault at the "National Gymnastics Championships";
- In 1997, he won the first place in vault at the "National Gymnastics Championships" and the "8th National Games";
- In 1998, he represented China in the United States to participate in the "China, the United States and Romania Team Competition" and won the second place in individual vault;
- ……
The mainstream media at the time affectionately called her the "vaulting queen".
It can be said that with her achievements and competitive state at that time, winning the world championship and Olympic championship in the future is just around the corner.
And she herself has long planned for her life:
Won an Olympic gold medal, retired from school, and became a gymnastics coach in the future.
However, what no one expected was that an accident quietly struck, and fate played a huge joke with Sunland...
02
In July 1998, at the age of 17, Sunland participated in the Fourth Friendship Games in New York.
It was a friendly match, and there were many sports superstars on the scene, and Sunland was excited and full of confidence in himself.
On the night of the game, just after 6 o'clock, Sunland began to prepare for the game.
She has done the "hand flip" movement used to warm up thousands of times, and she has long been familiar with the essentials.
The first pass, successfully completed.
But feeling like warming up wasn't enough, she decided to do it again.
Running, jumping, soaring, everything seems to be smooth and normal.
However, a few seconds later, an accident appeared: Sunland, who was supposed to land with both feet, actually hit her head first, and her neck hit the mat hard.
The coaches, referees, medical staff, and staff at the scene all surrounded them for a while.
They looked nervously at Sunland, who fell to the ground, and kept asking her nervously: "Are you okay?" How does it feel now? ”
Sang Lan, who was unable to move, looked at the figure shaking in front of him and immediately fainted.
Ambulance workers immediately rushed her to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Sunland, who fell into darkness, could not have imagined that her life would change.
Sang Lan, who woke up from the intensive ward, did not realize the seriousness of the problem, she saw the team leader Zhao Yuxin, and still asked: "When can I go back to training?" ”
For a while, the staff in the ward all avoided Sunland's questions with dodging eyes, and no one could bear to tell Sunlan that her situation was much more serious than expected.
Three days later, Sunland finally learned a cruel reality: this accident caused her to fracture her cervical spine and paraplegia from the chest down. For the rest of her life, she probably has to spend her life in a wheelchair.
All this, for a 17-year-old girl, is too cruel.
However, Sunland was stronger than everyone expected, and she actively cooperated with doctors and optimistically began to receive treatment in the United States.
Sunland's parents also soon came to the United States from China.
In the eyes of her parents, Sunland's strength is all about appeasing those around her. The mother said that Sunland never showed a sad expression in front of everyone, but every time in the dead of night, she would secretly cry alone.
The Sunland incident also attracted a lot of attention in American society at that time.
Many ordinary people in the United States regretted what happened to her, and Sunland's optimism and bravery when facing the camera moved countless people.
Then-US President Reagan Carter, the famous movie star Leonardo, and singer Celine Dion all came to visit her.
People magazine also selected her as the hero of the year in 1998, and for a while, the power of public opinion shaped her into a "smiling angel" with an inspirational life.
She also became the first Chinese to host a lighting ceremony for the Empire State Building in Times Square.
But how much does the brilliance of these surfaces help a young girl?
For a person with high paraplegia, fame and praise are false at this moment, and the life that surrounds her every day and has to face is more real.
The paralyzed Sunland, how can it be as good as we imagined, a bigger whirlpool, and more painful encounters are still to come.
03
Since the day of his paralysis, Sunland has faced many new problems.
When she first started rehabilitation, going to the toilet became a big problem for her.
Because there is no sensation below the chest, urine needs to be catheterized by a urinary catheter, 3 times a day, and it takes more than 30 minutes each time.
Stool needs to be supplemented with drugs such as Kaiserlu, and stool once every 3 days also makes Sunland feel overwhelmed.
The body began to lose weight, and the muscles of the legs began to shrink significantly.
In addition to the difficulties in life, the huge cost of rehabilitation training also troubled Sunland.
Monthly treatment fees, babysitting fees, nutrition fees... It's all a fixed amount of money.
State subsidies, social assistance, insurance, etc., these expenses are simply not enough, and she has to drag her disabled body around to work to barely support herself.
In his spare time, Sunland can always remember the scene of the accident at that time.
She recalled that she believed that the fall was not an accident, but that a coach of the Romanian gymnastics team on the sidelines, Octavan Beru, removed the mat from the landing site just before she jumped, causing her to be distracted and eventually deformed.
In 2011, 13 years after the accident, Sunland decided to get justice for himself.
She sued those responsible for that year's accident — Time Warner, USA Gymnastics, three insurance companies, and the founder of the Friendship Games — for a total of $1.8 billion.
This accusation caused an uproar.
The official of the competition believes that Sunland himself stepped on the wrong starting pedal position, and then flipped over his head in the air, causing his head to fall to the ground, which eventually caused an accident.
And the accused coach, Octavan Beru, was not in the landing area at all, let alone remove the mat.
To this day, there is still no clear result of this Rashomon, and no one knows what really happened back then.
One wave is not flat, and another wave is rising.
After Sunland's accident, Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong, an overseas Chinese couple in the United States at that time, were commissioned by the Gymnastics Association to take care of Sunland's daily life.
What no one expected was that Sunland would fall into the storm of "sexual assault", and later she even took the couple to court.
On June 8, 2011, Sunland's lawyer, Hemming, released a notarized court statement.
The testimony proved that Sunland was sexually assaulted while living in the United States after being injured, and the abuser Xue Weisen was the son of Xie Xiaohong, Sunland's guardian in the United States at the time.
This testimony was provided by Lu Ping, who worked as a Sunland therapist from the end of July to October 1998.
Lu Ping said that when he went to the defendant's home, he saw Xue Weisen holding the sleeping Sunlan on the sofa and covering him with a blanket to sexually assault him.
He also said that after Sunland was paralyzed, he had completely lost consciousness from the chest down, and could not feel heat, cold, itch and all other senses. "Sunland didn't even notice that she had been sexually assaulted."
Sunland was also surprised to find that his lower body was bleeding, and there were blood stains on the toilet paper that Xue Weisen helped Sunland wipe.
At that time, Sunland was only 17 years old and still a virgin.
This accusation was strongly dissatisfied and counterattacked by Liu Guosheng and Xie Xiaohong.
They believe that Sunland and his son are a couple, the relationship is close, and there is no sexual assault at all.
And Lu Ping, who provided testimony, his identity was also questioned. It is said that he is not a medical doctor at all, and there is no tall identity that the outside world makes.
This sexual assault case, full of fog, after Sunland's claim of 1.8 billion without success, once again attracted public attention.
Both sides insisted on different words, and no one knew what happened at that time, what the truth was.
In 2016, Sunland filed a motion with the court to unconditionally withdraw the lawsuit and never sue again, and there was speculation that they settled privately. But whatever the outcome, it's a bloody scandal for Sunland.
Accidentally fell into a high paraplegia, suspected of sexual assault, fought transnational lawsuits to claim 1.8 billion...
No one thought that Sunland, who was on the cusp of the storm, was only a young girl in her twenties.
Who wants to fall into endless disputes and pitch-black abyss before their life has even begun?
Pained Sunland, who just wants to get rid of all this in front of her, she begins to redeem herself.
04
Kazuo Inamori said that the path of life is drawn by the heart.
No matter how harsh the situation you are in, your mind should not be haunted by pessimistic thoughts.
In 1999, Sunland, who had improved in his condition, returned from the United States to continue his treatment.
Sunland, who realized that his cultural level was insufficient, wanted to read more books to enrich his inner world.
In 2002, Sang Lan applied for the Department of Journalism of Peking University and was finally admitted to Peking University without examination.
In the same year, Sunland also joined Star TV and became the host of "Sunland 2008".
This sports talk show began to be officially broadcast in 2003 until the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
On the eve of the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sunland became an Olympic torchbearer.
At the moment of passing the flame, Sunland's face was full of smiles, at this moment, Sunland has long forgotten the pain, she passed not only the Olympic flame, but also the strong Olympic sportsmanship.
Sunland used her strong will to complete her self-transformation.
Lucky Sunlan later met the love of his life, Huang Jian, who retired from the Beijing fencing team.
Huang Jian first noticed Sang Lan because of the misfortunes she had experienced before, and after in-depth understanding, she was moved by Sang Lan's strong and optimistic spirit.
He accompanies Sunland, takes care of her daily life, acts as her agent, and helps him fight those bloody lawsuits together.
Sunland was impressed by this attentive man, and Sunland finally decided to entrust the rest of her life to this man.
In 2013, the two successfully got married.
In 2014, Sunland also tenaciously gave birth to her son.
Ordinary people have children, it is like entering a "ghost gate", and the paraplegic Sunland in a high position is like creating a miracle of fertility.
After so many winds and waves, Sunland was finally reborn in Nirvana.
Now, at the age of 40, the photos she posted on social media are full of happiness.
Her husband, a healthy and lovely son, a family of three is happy and lives an ordinary and peaceful life.
She said on Weibo:
For 20 years, where you fall, you get up. I did it.
She did not escape fate to bring her heavy blows, turning herself into a hard rock and rising to the occasion.
The thrilling race in the first 20 years, mixed with a bloody past in the second 20 years, cannot defeat an optimistic and strong woman like this.
Now Sunland, his family and career have achieved a good harvest, and he is a real winner.
And the road of life is obstructed and long, and Sunland's future deserves more wonderful.
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