"Left limb dysfunction due to the umbilical cord around the neck" is a difficult starting point for anyone. But for Wen Xiaoyan, who was born in Yiyang, Hunan Province in 1997, there is a kind of accumulation and hidden power behind the difficulties, which always pushes her forward, and even makes her always have the spare strength to "push others".
On the track and field, Wen Xiaoyan was pushed to the top of the world by herself.
In July, her world record was broken at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, when Colombia's Karen Paromaker improved her T7 37m and 100m to 200.12 seconds and 82.26 seconds, respectively. After the race, the numbers were stored on Wen Xiaoyan's phone, and three months later, at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, she covered them with 42.3 seconds and 12.59 seconds, and the 26-year-old Chinese girl regained her position as the world record holder. Coupled with the 18.26m score of 37.38 meters that won the gold in the long jump T5/45 final, Wen Xiaoyan broke the world record in 3 consecutive days at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games and won the title of "Best Female Athlete" in 3 awarded by the Asian Paralympic Committee.
But in addition to training and competition, the power that made her a champion was used by more ordinary people. At Hunan Xiangya Bo'ai Rehabilitation Hospital, Wen Xiaoyan's job is to preach the prevention of work-related injuries and disabilities, and assist work-related injury patients who need to return to work to provide employment and rehabilitation guidance.
Wen Xiaoyan was deeply impressed by a post-90s hemiplegic who suffered a stroke, "He really wants to cooperate with the doctor's instructions, but I can understand his inadequacy." The doctor suggested that the patient raise his leg to 90 degrees, but looking at his strength, Wen Xiaoyan knew that "it may be difficult for him to lift to 50 degrees", and she combined her own experience to give the patient "advice", "Don't focus on the affected limb, you can use the sound leg to drive the other leg". The advice is effective, and the other party has less resistance and more cooperation and trust.
Most of the time, patients' trust is based more on Wen Xiaoyan's "empathetic" professional advice, rather than being a person with a disability. "For a long time, even though I won so many Paralympic titles, I didn't want to take the initiative to mention the label of 'disability'." Wen Xiaoyan admitted to the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that "she has never been treated specially" is the root of her personality, "I am a left-behind child, but my family loves me very much, and I have never felt that I am any different from others", she remembers that before high school, she had never applied for a disability certificate.
When Wen Xiaoyan was two years old, her parents went to Guangdong to work, leaving her to follow her elders to live in Sanjietang Village, Songmutang Town, Taojiang County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province, "My house is across the road from the primary school, and the school of junior high school is less than 200 meters away from home", the place is small but the human touch is strong, her father has a good relationship with the school physical education teacher, and specially asked Wen Xiaoyan to participate in more sports activities, "The main subjects of the village school are only Chinese and mathematics, but they want me to take physical education as the main subject", exercise is the purpose, and she showed her talent. As the physical education teacher was transferred to Taojiang County, Wen Xiaoyan also went to the county seat, and she was admitted to Taojiang No. <> Middle School, hoping to go to university with her sports expertise, but the "non-cooperation" of her limbs every time she exercised made her understand that "there is a difference".
In 2014, the coach of the Hunan Provincial Disabled Persons' Federation came to select seedlings, and with the encouragement of the physical education teacher, Wen Xiaoyan, who was "hard-working and brutal", was selected into the Hunan Provincial Disabled Athletics Team. She is rated T37, which is almost on par with able-bodied athletes, and "I learned that there are so many classifications when I came to para sports." Wen Xiaoyan admitted frankly that when she entered the team, she found that there was a group of peers in the world who were working as hard as herself, or even harder than herself, for the same dream, which made her "suddenly have an indescribable feeling", and the warm color of youth was covered with a layer of quiet gray.
"I am a para track and field athlete who has competed in two Paralympic Games, won five gold medals, and am the holder of three world records in the women's 5m, 100m and long jump." During the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress this year, Wen Xiaoyan, who was elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress, took the initiative to mention the identity of "disabled", "My disability level is relatively mild, T200 belongs to the cerebral palsy level, and I don't need assistive devices for mobility, but I have a little bit of motor dysfunction."
This is a re-understanding of self and people with disabilities, "When I was researching, I saw that there are more than 8000 million people with disabilities in the country, and I am in this huge number. Shocked and wrapped in a sense Chinese of responsibility, she thought of her teammates and disabled people trapped in her hometown, and hoped that she could "push them and help them get out".
In the team, Wen Xiaoyan is the "Mesozoic" who connects the past and the next. She noticed that the older brothers and sisters were reluctant to go out, whether they had activities to "join in the fun" or the opportunity to go to school after winning honors, "they were not very active", but in the training ground, they were the hardest and most dedicated people, "some people ran to vomit, and insisted on finishing while vomiting". She once wondered, "I also gave up the opportunity to go to school, what is the motivation to work so hard?" But they can empathize, "because the track is where they are most confident, and when it comes to other fields, there are always people who dare not step in."
Through the honors achieved on the field, Wen Xiaoyan entered Beijing Sport University, and through professional learning, she better understood her own advantages and bottlenecks. When she returned to the team, she encouraged her teammates to fight for the opportunity to go to school and create opportunities to take everyone out, "I am the beneficiary, and I hope they can have such a platform, and school is not the end, it is just the beginning, we have to keep going up and forward." During the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress this year, she suggested that in terms of competitive sports for the disabled, a comprehensive education system for disabled athletes should be established, the recruitment of disabled athletes in secondary vocational colleges should be expanded, and the basic academic qualifications and vocational skills of disabled athletes should be comprehensively improved. Encourage colleges and universities that have the capacity to offer majors related to sports for persons with disabilities, comprehensively improving the professional knowledge and athletic performance of athletes with disabilities.
Wen Xiaoyan revealed that the irrepressible "worry" once made the owner of the fresh milk house downstairs mistakenly think that he was the life teacher in the team. "Now that a large number of post-00s players have come in, I will invite my brothers and sisters to share a lot of experience in the arena, and I hope that young people's more open and optimistic expressions can influence them." She noticed that everyone, including herself, was training in a muffled voice, but many post-00s players took videos while training, and then made short videos and put them on social networks, attracting many onlookers, "The times are changing, their concepts are more open and fearless, if you let everyone see the hard work and efforts of para athletes in this way, it is also a way to connect with society, and it is also a way to 'go out'."
However, Wen Xiaoyan emphasized that no matter what era of athletes, practical training and speaking with results are the foundation of life. She revealed that she once thought about giving up, "When I first started training, it was too difficult, especially in the days of intensity, I would rather the English teacher let me memorize 100 words than go to the track and field." She laughs that the measure of childhood is so immature, which also makes the idea of giving up seem real and easy. She went home and complained to her grandmother, who said, "That's not good, how can you give up halfway?" ”
seems to be a simple sentence, but Wen Xiaoyan has insisted to this day, "Grandma feels very sorry for me, every time I come home from training, I sleep, and she blocks others when they ask me to play, so that I can sleep steadily; When I woke up, she immediately gave me hot food and rice; But at that time, I said that it was hard, but she asked me to persevere, and she didn't read, but she said the idiom 'give up halfway', which made me feel very powerful." And this force is the starting point, pushing Wen Xiaoyan to a bigger stage, and then pushing more disabled people to go out through her.
Beijing, December 12
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Liang Xuan Source: China Youth Daily