Figure | Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cai Yang
The Paralympic Games are coming to an end.
But many people don't know.
You may not even know what the Paralympic Games are.
Some people have asked, what is the meaning of the existence of the Paralympic Games?
The following answers, there is no shortage of such voices:
The Paralympic Games should not have existed in the first place, there is no point in existing.
I really can't understand why the Paralympic Games are held! Worse than disabled? Worse than miserable?
I believe they may be motivated by compassion for the disabled and compassion for the weak.
But to say that the Paralympic Games are meaningless is really not to agree.
The reason why the human soul is noble is not in the level of achievement, not in the soundness of the limbs, let alone in appearance, money, and so on.
It's only about character and will.
What they really need is respect, not just compassion.
Next, listen to me tell a few stories.
The story is not long, but I will be very careful.
The protagonist of the first story, Zhang Li, recently won the first gold medal for the Tokyo Paralympic Games for the Chinese swimming team.
On August 25, 2021, the Tokyo Paralympic Games swimming women's 200m freestyle S5 final.
With the referee's whistle, Zhang Li rushed into the water like an arrow.
At the beginning of the race, The British player Kenny, who was the first in the preliminaries, pulled the distance away.
In the first 150 meters, Zhang Li was always behind.
She didn't think anything of it, and a thought came to her mind: catch up.
By the last 50 meters, Zhang Li turned around just in time to see Kenny, and the distance between the two had been much closer.
She cheered herself up: try her best to fight, keep chasing, keep chasing.
In the end, Zhang Li came up behind, caught up, and won the championship with a slight advantage of 0.12 seconds.
Knowing the moment she won the championship, Zhang Li cried.
She said: "This championship is also a kind of comfort in my heart, thank you for your perseverance. ”
It is worth mentioning that this is Zhang Li's fifth Olympic gold medal.
Figure | Originated from "CCTV News" Zhang Li won the championship
At the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Zhang Li, who was only 18 years old, took the stage of the Paralympic Games for the first time and won four gold medals in one fell swoop.
And broke the world record, won the title of "Four Champions", and became the focus of attention around the world.
It stands to reason that for such a strong player, there is no need for a gold medal to prove anything.
So what made her cry with excitement?
Perhaps, it is pressure and perseverance.
Zhang Li was born in 1998 in Zhen'an County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province.
Heaven did not give her any favors, but let her suffer from congenital cerebral palsy from birth.
When she grew up, she had mobility problems below her waist and could only travel in a wheelchair.
When other children were bouncing around, she could only sit in a wheelchair and cast envious eyes.
But she is very optimistic, very hardworking, and even in turn will comfort her parents, and she never worries about her studies.
At the age of 14, Zhang Li was selected by the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Center for the Disabled to practice swimming.
But in order not to delay her studies, she was once somewhat repelled. The teachers of the Provincial Disabled Persons' Federation did several times of ideological work for her, and finally succeeded in convincing her.
Even after being selected for the provincial team, she never gave up studying. While insisting on reading, she trained hard, which was the norm of her life.
Figure | Zhang Li's daily training
Initially, she also harbored a deep fear of the pool.
Choking water and vomiting are common things, and ordinary people may not learn to swim easily, not to mention that she is born with disabilities.
But she survived, and was even more strict with herself than anyone else.
She overcame unimaginable difficulties for ordinary people and endured pressures that ordinary people could not estimate, day after day.
By the age of 15, she had won the first place in the women's 100m breaststroke at the National Para swimming championships.
Two years later, she won 1 gold and 2 silver at the Paralympic Games, breaking the national record for the women's 100m breaststroke.
The following year, she was selected for the national team and rose to fame at the Rio Paralympic Games.
In the interview after the game that year, she smiled and closed her mouth: "Very good, took so many firsts, I am happy, my family is happy, but I still have to swim well later." ”
Before he could finish speaking, he covered his mouth and laughed.
Her coach Zhang Honghu said: "She is very good at adjusting her mentality and helping herself reduce stress, which is not available to ordinary young athletes." ”
People who know her well also say that she is "lively, grinning, and a bit familiar."
What a wonderful girl, fate may be unfair, but she has never been depressed.
Just often thinking about my family:
"Because there is no time to spend time with the family, there will be some guilt for them.
My sister had a hard time taking care of her parents alone and wanted to say thank you to her.
My parents have worked hard all these years and have always supported me on this path, thank you for their understanding of me. ”
The protagonist of the second story is called Su Huawei, the real "Su God" in Su Bingtian's heart.
Just one day before the opening of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, Su Bingtian posted on Weibo: "Everyone calls me Su Shen, and I also have a Su God in my mind, his name is Su Huawei!" ”
In 1981, Su Washi-wai was born into an ordinary family in Kowloon, Hong Kong, the son of a painter and a full-time housewife mother.
Just half a year after his birth, Xiao Su Huawei was diagnosed with hemolytic jaundice.
Although he was rescued and relieved of his life, he was left with troublesome sequelae:
muscle spasms, the possibility of never being able to walk on their own;
Cerebral palsy, hearing and speaking ability and learning ability are impaired.
At that time, no one could believe that this child could not only learn to run, but also break the world record in the Olympic arena.
From 1996 to 2008, Su Huawei participated in a total of 4 Paralympic Games and won 6 gold medals.
He is also the world record holder for the T36 class of the men's 100 meters and 200 meters.
What does he rely on? Talent may be there, but more is the sweat of countless days and nights.
A spastic patient, unlike a able-bodied person, may have to work several times harder to reach the level of a normal person.
Daily actions such as climbing stairs are like baby toddlers for Su Huawei, everything must start from scratch, practice, and practice again.
In addition to training, it is inevitable to encounter the curious or contemptuous eyes of others, and even endure the humiliation and bullying of those children who do not understand things.
Perhaps, such an experience made him feel more pain and fear than physical disability.
He had also wavered, but when he thought about it, he was not very willing: "Am I really useless?" ”
He never gave up, even if he fell on the track again and again, and was questioned and ridiculed again and again, it was not enough to offset the firm belief in his heart.
Figure | From the movie "12.58 Seconds"
After the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Su Huawei's body had sounded the alarm.
As time passed, injuries became more serious.
But in order to win medals in the motherland himself, Su Huawei still insisted on training in the pain of injury.
He even used a lot of painkillers to prepare for the Beijing Paralympic Games.
Due to the effects of adendal adenum, he also needs to overcome the distance he falls from before the start response is insufficient.
In the final final, Su Huawei still started late, once several positions behind the other players.
But with the physical potential of his tireless training, he still lived up to expectations, winning the gold medal in the men's 200 meters (T36) and breaking the world record with a time of 24.65 seconds.
When breaking through the finish line, Andy Lau, who has been waiting for a long time, is also a good friend and manager of Su Huawei, and he can't help but go up and hug him tightly, leaving an incomparably moving scene.
Su Huawei once told the media: "I like the feeling of the wind blowing on my cheeks when I run. ”
In his autobiography, Gold Medal on the Equator, Su Huawei also explained the meaning of the title:
The "red" of "equator" not only symbolizes its hard work with blood and sweat, but also represents the color of its beloved track and its enthusiasm for running.
A child who had been diagnosed by doctors as "probably never able to walk" fell in love with running.
He kept running, the wind blowing from his cheeks, under his feet, from the hearts of everyone who looked at his figure...
The more you look at him, the more you can truly feel the warmth and vitality of that life.
Many people with sound limbs are gradually losing vitality.
It also reminds me of what Stephen Hawking said at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games in 2012:
"Human efforts to explore have no boundaries. The Paralympic Games are meant to change our perception and perception of the world.
We are all different, and nothing is more resolute than the will of man. ”
Figure | Hawking addressed the London 2012 Paralympic Games
In the last story, the protagonist is named Li Duan, a former dunk champion and later a Paralympic triple jump champion.
Before the age of 18, Li Duan's life was bright.
At that time, he was a professional basketball player in the Shenyang Military Region and a national basketball dunk champion, just like the day in the sky on the basketball court.
He has been playing basketball since he was 5 years old, and his dream is to become a good basketball player like Jordan.
In 1993, the state established the "National Men's Basketball Junior Team", and 15-year-old Li Duan was selected and became the main defender of the team step by step.
Figure | Li Duan won the National Junior Men's Basketball Dunk Championship in 1993
During the training of the national junior team, Li Duan met Wang Zhizhi and gradually became a friend who cherished each other.
Also that year, in the dunk game of the National Youth Basketball League in Jiangxi, Li Duan won the championship.
"Dazhi dunked but I can't dunk, you know not? He was big and jumped up, not good looking. He smiled, his eyes full of light.
Whenever talking about dunks, Li Duan is always extremely excited: "The feeling of sliding through the air is like being in heaven." ”
At the age of 17, he has become the main defender of the Shenyang troop team in the CBA League and the main defender of the national youth team, with a promising future.
It wasn't until September 11, 1996, that Li Duan, who was preparing for the 1996-1997 CBA season, was cleaning when a fire extinguisher suddenly exploded.
The upper part of the fire extinguisher flew up under strong pressure and smashed directly on Li Duan's brain door...
It took 15 days for Li Duan to wake up from his coma.
He tried to open his eyes, but there was an eternal darkness in front of him.
That explosion changed Li Duan's life: the right eyeball was shattered, the optic nerve of the left eye was contused, the maxilla and skull bones were cracked, the nose bridge bone was crushed, and the first section of the right index finger was blown off...
He was just 18 years old.
In the first few days after waking up, Li Duan did not eat or drink, did not want to see people, and even wanted to commit suicide at one point.
"I can't see anything, I can't play basketball, and I can't play anything else." So what am I still alive for, I pulled it down. ”
Until one day, a cancer patient in the same ward jumped off a building to commit suicide, and his relatives cried out in grief, and the voice made Li Duan wake up a lot.
"Death is too simple, leaving this world like this, I am relieved, sad only my relatives and friends, this is irresponsible to my relatives." 」
He made up his mind to bravely face this sudden dark world.
In August 1997, Li Duan was sent by the army to the Shenyang Blind School to learn Braille. It took him only 15 days to master the basics of Braille and set a record for the fastest learning since the establishment of the Blind School.
Later, Li Duan also learned blind massage and obtained a masseuse certificate.
He was back in the training ground and the arena, and heard the familiar whistle and the crash of a basketball on the floor.
Only this time, he came back as a professional masseuse.
While he was learning massage, the Liaoning Disabled Sports Team found Li Duan when they went to the blind school to recruit athletes. Due to his good physical condition, he was immediately selected by the coach.
Since then, he has started his second career and become a long jumper.
In 1998, Li Duan's first year of learning long jump, he won the national selection competition.
Figure | In the men's long jump F11 class of the 13th Beijing Paralympic Games, Li Duan won the championship.
At the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Li Duan won a silver medal and a bronze medal with an injury.
At the time of the award, Li Duan, who was standing on the podium, could not see the national flag and could not hear the national anthem.
"I was very uncomfortable, I was blind and couldn't see the flag raised; because it wasn't a gold medal, I couldn't hear the national anthem.
At that time, I thought, I must win the championship, so that I can hear the national anthem playing on the field. ”
Figure | Lee Duan on the podium
In 2004, at the Athens Paralympic Games, Li Duan became the blind athlete who jumped the farthest that year, winning two gold medals.
When the March of the Volunteers was played over Athens, Li Duan excitedly put his mutilated right hand to his chest and sang loudly with the melody.
He sang the national anthem so loudly that some foreign media named him "the loudest voice in this Paralympic Games".
At the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, Li Duan broke the world record of 10 years in the triple jump.
He said: "That's what it felt like 10 years ago when I slid into the basket in the air, like I was in heaven. ”
There was no light in his eyes, but I saw a starry sky.
So, what do you mean by paralympic games?
Whether it is Zhang Li, Su Huawei, or Li Duan, they have already given the answer.
Physical disabilities and defects, the ups and downs of fate and disasters, may change a lot of things.
But it can't change a heart full of blood.
So they are, and so are the countless disabled people behind them.
As there is a saying in "The Shawshank Redemption": Some birds are destined not to be kept in cages, and every feather of them shines with the radiance of freedom.
Disability doesn't mean you've lost your arms, legs, or anything else.
The real disability is to give up on those things you want to do.
From the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, China entered the top ten of the gold medal table for the first time;
It was sixth in the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000, then topping the list at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, and finally to the current Tokyo Paralympic Games.
We have been at the top of the gold medal table for 4 consecutive Paralympic Games.
In 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, every session was our first.
As of press time, we continue to rank first in the gold medal table and medal table with a total of 85 gold, 51 silver and 46 bronze medals.
Looking at them, I burst into tears.
Look at them, they are the warmest and most magnificent appearance of life.
Figure | #Tokyo Paralympic Opening Ceremony #Chinese Paralympic delegation appears
Finally, I will share two sentences from Li Duan.
The first sentence is: "When dreaming, my mind can really appear in the picture that only exists on TV, sometimes after being suddenly awakened by the dream, I really want to sleep again, continue the dream just now, but many times I can't sleep, huh..."
The second sentence is: "No matter what, life will go on, happy and bland." ”
Cheerful and bland.
How ordinary, and how rare.
Resources
1. Xinhua News Agency, "From "Rookie" to "Triple Crown"- Swimmer Zhang Li's Dream Trip to the Rio Paralympic Games"
2. NetEase News "0.12 seconds advantage to win the championship!" Zhang Li won the first gold of the Chinese swimming team, congenital cerebral palsy and rebirth"
3. Huashang Network "Shangluo Jian'er Zhang Li won two gold and one silver at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, mentioning her family but choking up"
4. China Sports Daily, "The Dream Footsteps of Li Duan, Athlete of the Sports Task Force of Shenyang Military Region"
5. Xi'an Evening News " The Dark World's Flying Man Li Duan, the World's Farthest Jumping All-Blind Athlete"
6. China News Network "Asian Para Games Player Li Duan: From Soldier to Blind Champion"
7. Tonight's newspaper "'Su Shen' Was Touched by 'Su Shen'"
8. People |, Mental Health Education and Research Center, Nanjing University Su Huawei - "Magic Boy" on the track and field field
The text is the original reading of the National Library, please contact the author for reprinting
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Author: Wen Gu
(Columnist of kokukan)