Most sports fans know of athlete Xu Haifeng, who was the first Olympic gold medalist in China, but probably not as many people have heard of Ping Yali. Ping won the first gold medal in the B1-group long jump for China at the Paralympics. In 1994, Xe and Ping together lit a torch at the 6th Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, an oft-told story in the world of handicapped sports.

The population of China's handicapped is more than 60 million, including amputees, the blind and some 25.36 million mentally disabled. With the establishment of the China Sports Association for Disabled Persons in 1983, associations for the mentally handicapped and the deaf were established. Since then, sports associations for the disabled at provincial and city levels have mushroomed. The National Paralympic Games, held every four years, have been held six times through 2003. Single events were also held in the light of the international and national games. The China Sports Association for Disabled Persons has also joined several international sports organizations for the disabled.

Since 1982, China has taken part in five international Paralympic games, five Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, four Special Olympics, two Olympics for the deaf and dumb, events for the blind and many world tournaments. Along the way, Chinese athletes have earned more than 2,000 gold medals and broken 214 world records.

China's team, for the first time in history, was listed as a top ten world sport giant at the 10th Paralympics in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States in 1996. China was among the top six at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000. The number of gold medals and the total medals China won at the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled was ranked first. These and other achievements of Chinese disabled athletes have contributed significantly in raising the bar for international sports. Zhang Haidong, the weight-lifting champion in both Atlanta and Sydney, boosted the men's 75-kilogram weight class record from 207 kilograms to 240 kilograms.

With Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics and the Paralympics in July 2001, and Shanghai's hosting of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, the improvement in sports for China's handicapped has attracted increasing attention from the world.

The 12th Summer Paralympics will be held in Athens from Sept. 17 to Sept. 28. So far 202 Chinese athletes in 11 events have been invited, a number exceeding the targeted goal of 150, even more than the number of Chinese participants in the Sydney games.

To Change Fate

If sports mean people challenging their own limits, then it is true also for sports for the disabled, for men and women who don't lock themselves up because they are different from others, but strive to rid themselves of isolation and loneliness with self-respect, confidence and independence.

The laurel of honor is woven of thorns. There is a moving story behind every Chinese disabled athlete. Wu Yunhu, Sun Changting, Wang Dongren, Zhao Jihong, Zheng Peifeng, Bian Jianxin-they all have struggled to win medals, honor and respect for China as well as themselves.

Formerly a soccer player in a Nanjing troop of the People's Liberation Army, Sun Changting didn't give up when he lost one of his legs during a mission. Instead, he moved to the Paralympics. His experience as an athlete helped him establish himself quickly, and he won a gold medal. He opened an artificial limb factory in Tianjin after leaving the sport and now often helps the disabled who live in poverty. As an ardent lover of the sport, he organized a small soccer team.

Wang Xiaofu was badly shocked by high voltage when he was only six. He lost his right arm. When he was 12, he was brought to a swimming coach in Yunnan. He was 1.74 meters tall, a boy wearing size 44 shoes, and though he was at first a little frightened of the swimming pool, he learned how to swim in just one week. Before long, he had learned all four swimming strokes, and, endowed with a natural gift, he would swim forward with a single arm. When he was 13 years old and 1.82 meters tall, he became the youngest member of China's team competing in the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled.

Now Wang is a celebrity among disabled swimmers at home and abroad. He has won many medals at domestic and international competitions, and it is said that if Wang takes part in a competition, no one else gets the gold.

Wang was given CCTV's first "Best Disabled Athlete of the Year" award, in 2002. In 2003, he was honored by the host city, Nanjing, to end the torch relay, handing it over to Deng Pufang, president of China Disabled Persons' Federation, at the opening ceremony of the National Games for the Disabled.
Not all are as lucky as Sun and Wang. Many handicapped athletes still practice at crude facilities around the country, unable to afford expensive equipment, and concerned instead simply with finding a coach or buying shoes. Many haven't even stepped outside of the country. But these athletes are strong, and not likely to yield.

(China Pictorial September 3, 2004)