Executive summary:On March 4, the Beijing Winter Paralympics will begin. From today (March 2) to the 4th, the torch relay of the Beijing Winter Paralympics will be held in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. For the Beijing Winter Paralympics, China sent a team of 96 Paralympic athletes to compete in all 6 major events and 73 minor events.
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On March 4, the Beijing Winter Paralympics will begin. From today (March 2) to the 4th, the torch relay of the Beijing Winter Paralympics will be held in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. For the Beijing Winter Paralympics, China sent a team of 96 Paralympic athletes to compete in all 6 major events and 73 minor events. There are 85 athletes participating in the Winter Paralympics for the first time, accounting for 88.5% of the total number. This is the one with the largest delegation, the largest number of athletes, and the most complete participating items since my country participated in the Paralympic Winter Games. At the same time, this is a team composed entirely of amateur players, and many project teams are newly formed, and the personnel are also started from scratch. Many of them, more than 5 years ago were workers, farmers, students and freelancers… and today, they are regarding to enter the Winter Paralympics.
The Beijing Winter Paralympics is regarding to open, and for the past few days, Paralympic athletes have begun pre-competition adaptive training. The National Alpine Ski Center in Yanqing, Beijing is one of the most difficult competition venues in the world. Judging from past awards, in order to win medals, Paralympic athletes need to ski almost as well as ordinary athletes on such a track. speed.
Every athlete who is regarding to set foot on the Winter Paralympic Games has experienced hard training that is unimaginable to ordinary people. It is the tempering and perseverance in the past days that has made them the hero they are today. Athletes at the Paralympic Games tend to be more impressive than the fierce competition at the Winter Olympics. Since last year’s Test, many of them have become idols for the race security staff.
Shao Shuai, manager of the event training department of the venue operation branch of Beijing Beijing Enterprises Beijing Construction Co., Ltd., said: “I was infected by their spirit from the first time I contacted them, and their strength was inadvertent. From a professional point of view, They skated really well, you cheered them on, and it was like, wow, so hot, so hard. I like the guy who lost his arms because he’s so optimistic and so cheerful.”
Sun Hongsheng is the only athlete without arms in the Chinese Paralympic alpine ski team. Even in the world of international para alpine skiing, a player like him is extremely rare.
Sun Hongsheng, an athlete of the Chinese Paralympic Alpine Ski Team, said: “I used to be afraid of heights, and I was afraid to ride the cable car. After several years of training, I can now ride at this height. I used to have tears in the cable car, and as long as I slipped , I can hear my shouting all over the snowfield, I can shout from start to finish, and I don’t even feel it myself.”
Chen Liang is not afraid of heights, but the feeling of being imprisoned in a ski once made him unbearable.
Chen Liang, an athlete of the Chinese Paralympic Alpine Ski Team, said: “I feel very stiff following getting into the seated ski, because it is a hard shelf that supports the whole person, and the foothold is just a stick, like a burden. The same will drag me, I will be conquered by it, it wants to fall, I can only follow it, I can’t control it, it wants to slide down, I will be carried away by it, there is a desire It feels like crying without tears.”
Chen Liang spent more than a month “reconciling” with his ski equipment until he might stand on the snow and stop falling frequently.
Chen Liang said: “Slowly, I can understand a little bit of its temper, can control a little bit of temper, give it a little strength, and it follows me.”
Compared with her teammates, Zhang Wenjing from Hebei is a little sister. She was only 14 years old when she joined the alpine ski team.
Zhang Wenjing, a member of the Chinese Paralympic alpine ski team, said: “I didn’t know what skiing was at first, and then I said I wanted to practice alpine skiing. I said what alpine skiing was, but I had never heard of it.”
Zhang Wenjing, the youngest, adapted faster than the other players. A month later, she got an opportunity to go abroad to compete in the Netherlands, a junior-level para-ski competition, mainly for her to go out and open her eyes and gain experience. But in the first game of her life, she was hit hard by reality.
Zhang Wenjing said: “I heard the broadcast on the track shouting that I was from China and I fell or something. I cried at the time, I felt so ashamed, I represented China and I fell. After they pulled me up, I still wanted to slide down, but they didn’t let it go, saying that because I didn’t have a grade, I made a mistake.”
At the beginning of the establishment of the Chinese Paralympic Alpine Ski Team, everyone started from scratch. Seventy or eighty people initially participated in the selection. After rounds of elimination, there are still 26 people who have persisted to this day.
Dreams are the flames that light up their lives and the power that inspires them to move forward bravely. Since its establishment more than five years ago, this young team has overcome all difficulties and moved forward step by step towards the goal of the Beijing Winter Paralympics.
Compared with ordinary able-bodied athletes, it is very difficult for the disabled to engage in alpine skiing, and among his teammates, Sun Hongsheng faces even greater difficulties. The lack of arms meant he mightn’t use the poles, and he mightn’t balance on his upper body like everyone else, and he might only rely on the strength of his waist for balance.
The international competition of alpine skiing for the disabled is also a high-level competition. Whenever strong players gather, Sun Hongsheng, eager to win, will always face difficult choices.
Sun Hongsheng said: “One time, when I was more than 300 meters away from the gate, I was thinking, I should fly or not, because the speed is too fast. It flew in a few seconds, and this time it was good, I did a ‘aerial trick’, I did three backflips, slammed, and hit the ground, and I didn’t reach the finish line, just one meter away.”
Zhang Wenjing said: “We start practicing every morning and keep practicing. We don’t skate as long as foreign athletes, so we can only use this method to make up for it. But sometimes we practice too much, and there will be troughs and bottlenecks.”
Chen Liang said: “I fell once and suffered a comminuted fracture of the tibia. When the rescue team rescued me, I was deeply impressed that my leg was lifted. My leg was separated, not the whole body. At that time, I felt a little stunned. I didn’t even dare to think regarding it. I felt that I was already disabled. Now that I am disabled, I thought I had to give up. But seeing my teammates working so hard, everyone’s atmosphere encouraged me, and there is a better future. The road is waiting for me, and I will continue to persevere for this idea, and I must continue to do it.”
Because he has no arms, Sun Hongsheng has an inherent disadvantage in balance.
Sun Hongsheng said: “I paid a lot, but my grades didn’t go up and they went down. The more I slid, the less I might slip. I didn’t feel happy at all. I just bought a ticket for the farthest train and went out. It seemed that I arrived in the early morning. After staying for a day, I bought a plane ticket at 4 am or 5 am and flew back. What did I pay so much for, maybe it was to participate in this Winter Olympics, so that I wouldn’t regret it later.”
Two years following her first fall in a competition, Zhang Wenjing got another chance to compete in the Netherlands. This time, she won a gold medal.
Zhang Wenjing said: “I feel so proud to have won the first place. I have proved myself in the same place.”
Sun Hongsheng overcame all difficulties and persevered. He became the only athlete in the same level of alpine skiing for the disabled in the world.
Sun Hongsheng said: “One of the foreign athletes has no hands, that is, he has upper arms and no hands. He overtook him in the first competition abroad. I also forget which competition, following which he might no longer skate me, that feeling. I’m quite happy. Many coaches have recorded my games to see how I skate. Because my skates are very different from theirs. At my level, I am a pioneer, making the impossible possible. “
Deep in the heart of almost every Paralympic athlete, there is a unique interpretation of life. Ice and snow sports make them grow from weak to strong; following countless days and nights of tempering, they become confident and optimistic.
Today, they finally came to the Beijing Winter Paralympics arena.
Zhang Wenjing said: “I just want to train well, I just want to be able to compete well, and I must work hard to get a result.”
Sun Hongsheng said: “The moment you stand on the field, the sense of mission is different.”
Chen Liang said: “I just want to achieve good results for the country, and I also want to raise the country’s five-star red flag.”
Original title: Focus Interview: Fight!Winter Paralympic Dream Chasing Ice and Snow Flying Against the Wind
