Elephant News Reporter Xie Yanwei Correspondent Wang Fenglin
On the evening of October 29, the 11th National Paralympic Games and the 8th Special Olympics will close in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. For the first time, the Special Olympics were held at the same time as the National Games, with 35 delegations and 4484 athletes from all over the country participating, with a total of 43 major events, including 34 Paralympic Games and 9 Special Olympics events.
In the 11th National Paralympic Games and the 8th Special Olympics, Henan Province's disabled athletes won 28 Paralympic Olympic gold medals, 30.5 silver medals and 42 bronze medals, a total of 100.5 medals, three broke four national records, and achieved hundreds of disabled sports medals. Special Olympics won 17 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 18 bronze medals, for a total of 50 medals.
(Pang Baolong)
Pang Baolong, a veteran of the Sanmenxia paralympic athletes, won the first gold medal of the concentrated period for the Henan delegation in the men's shot put F63 class competition on October 23, and broke the national record held by himself, winning the three consecutive Paralympic Games championships in the event. In the men's high jump T47 class, track and field team athlete Zhao Yalong broke the national record with a time of 1.97 meters and won the championship. He also won silver and bronze medals in the triple jump and long jump events in the men's T47 class.
(Ma Zhiliang and swimming coach Guo Hongyan)
In the swimming event, Ma Zhiliang won four gold medals in the men's SM15 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley, the men's S15 200m butterfly, the men's open 4×100m medley relay, and broke two national records in the men's S15 1500 freestyle and the men's open 4×100m medley relay.
(Ma Baichen)
At this Paralympic Games, many new athletes played well. Participating in the national competition for the first time, Ma Baichen won the men's F52 shot put, javelin and discus. Liu Mengyan, a 12-year-old who participated in the national competition for the first time, was the youngest athlete in the Henan delegation, and in her debut, she won the silver medal in the women's S15 200-meter backstroke.
(Li Lu)
The newcomers are outstanding, and the veterans are equally outstanding. Li Lu won three gold medals in the women's T47 class 100m, 200m and 400m athletics. Wang Jingang won the gold medal in the men's S6 50m butterfly. Fan Lei of Xinxiang won the championship in the table tennis body women's TT10 class; Zhang Yan and Zhang Jie won the TT4 level championship, and Ren Guixiang and Li Guiying won the TT8 level runner-up. Cycling veteran Wang Xian won the first place in the men's 70 km road group race, the men's 15 km individual time trial, and the men's 4 km individual pursuit.
In the basketball for the deaf, 23 non-professional athletes from all over the province formed two teams of men and women to participate in the competition after nearly four months of hard training under the organization of the Provincial Disabled Persons' Federation. In the end, the Henan women's deaf basketball team won the fourth place in history.
Henan athletes with the high state of "mission on the shoulders, struggle with me", tenacious struggle on the field, constantly challenge the limit, showing the spirit of forge ahead. They have set an example for the majority of disabled people in Henan, inspired and driven more disabled people to recover and exercise, build self-confidence, actively live and integrate into society.
The next Special Olympics will be held in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau in 2025 together with the 15th Games. Disabled athletes in Henan Province will continue to carry forward the spirit of hard training and strive to achieve better results in the next National Special Olympics National Paralympic Games.