The number of gold medals and the total number of medals in Hunan hit the highest level in all previous Paralympic Games, and the Games will be held in 2029
The light of life shines in the stadium, and the spirit of Huxiang blooms in glory
On the evening of December 15, the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th Special Olympics Games came to an end in Shenzhen. At the closing event, the flag of the People’s Republic of China Paralympic Games and the flag of the People’s Republic of China Special Olympics Games completed the solemn handover, marking that the next event will be held in Hunan in 2029.
On the field, when the hearing-impaired athlete Fu Fang overcame his poor condition and made a hard throw in the discus event, winning the first gold medal for the Hunan delegation, when the visually impaired Deng Jieqiu cut through the waves in the swimming pool, and when the “one-armed flying man” Shi Kangjun galloped at full speed on the track… They never complained about their disabilities, but only used actions to interpret the dignity and strength of life.
The Hunan delegation used the fighting spirit of “holding back the waves with one hand and lifting the sky with one arm” to create brilliant glory and paved a track full of faith and warmth for the home game four years later.
The performance is shining, and the “Disabled Sports Hunan Army” is strong
At this National Paralympic Games, 128 athletes from Hunan showed strong gold-winning strength and profound project background in 14 events.
Athletes from our province won 52 golds, 31 silvers and 31 bronzes in the Paralympic and Deaf Games events, 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze in the mass events; and 21 golds, 14 silvers and 16 bronzes in the Special Olympics events. The number of gold medals and the total number of medals reached the highest level in any Paralympic Games.
The value of this report card is reflected in multiple dimensions——
In the advance event competition, Taekwondo achieved a breakthrough of zero gold medals in history, winning 3 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronzes; the “sharp shooters” shot 7 golds, 3 silvers and 6 bronzes in the shooting event. On the first day of the competition, the Hunan delegation achieved a “good start” with good results of 8 golds, 3 silvers and 6 bronzes. As the schedule progressed, the “Disabled Hunan Army” even achieved an amazing performance of winning 11 gold medals in a single day.
Hunan’s traditional advantageous events continue to be consolidated, and track and field has become the main force for gold medals. Famous athletes such as Shi Yiting, Wen Xiaoyan, Liu Wei and Shi Kangjun showed their dominance in the sprint event. The “Four Golden Flowers” broke the women’s 4×100m relay world record. Athletes such as Jiang Fenfen and Wu Binbin broke many records. The new generation young player Zhu Qian also made a blockbuster success.
Compared with previous years, Hunan has achieved new breakthroughs in the number of participants and project coverage. In addition to the unparalleled number of gold medals in track and field, key sports such as swimming and blind judo also received frequent successes, and shooting, taekwondo and other sports were in full bloom.
The old and new alternate in an orderly manner, and the future is exciting. The 40-year-old athlete and coach Wei Enlong won a silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 finals and officially retired after the game. The four apprentices he trained have won 6 gold medals in javelin, discus, shot put and other events. In the blind judo competition, there are both the 32-year-old veteran Wu Yurong who is as stable as a rock, and the 16-year-old judo youngster Li Jiangchen who is making his debut in the disabled competition. The reasonable age echelon structure has injected vitality into the sustainable development of disabled sports in Hunan.
Through a systematic play style of scientific training, veteran dominance, newcomers taking the lead, and integration of the disabled and disabled, Hunan is gradually forming its core competitiveness, lifting the “Hunan Army with Disabilities” to shine on the field, and demonstrating its hard-core strength.
Walk towards the light and pay tribute to the most unyielding soul
There is a famous sports proverb: If the Olympic Games selects the most peak bodies of human beings, the Paralympics selects the most unyielding souls of human beings.
In the National Paralympic Games, what shines brighter than the gold medals is the spiritual light bursting out from the Hunan Paralympics.
Blind judo player Shi Yijie injured her knee before the competition and her mentality fluctuated. Under coach Li Yuehua’s targeted tactical guidance and teammate Zhu Shiwen’s “one-on-one” sparring and psychological counseling, she quickly stabilized her position and finally won the gold medal in one fell swoop. This proves that disabled people’s competition is never a solo effort, but a precise attack supported by a team.
Tang Qian, who lost his right arm and leg when he was 3 and a half years old, has been practicing swimming for 13 years. In order to make up for his poor performance at the Paris Paralympic Games and the lack of gold medals at the National Paralympic Games, he averaged over 15,000 meters of training every day, repeatedly polishing balance and technical details, and finally reached the top and won the gold medal. Behind the phrase “so many years of hard work has paid off” is the continuous transcendence of physical limitations by individual will.
Li Xia, a table tennis player who is a paraplegic and nearly 50 years old, needs to get out of her wheelchair every 30 minutes during training to relieve pressure to prevent pressure ulcers. Her hands are weak and she relies on straps to fix her racket… In this competition, she won two bronze medals for Hunan. For her, the bigger gain besides the medal is “from needing constant care to being able to travel independently.” Sports became the ladder of her recovery and the fulcrum of her life, allowing a life that had been bedridden for 7 years to “stand up” in society again.
Team support, self-transcendence, sports rehabilitation and life reconstruction, the journey of Hunan disabled athletes reveals the essence of sports at every level: it is not only competition, but also the reshaping of personal dignity, the awakening of self-potential, and a bridge to integrate into society.
Through sports, more and more people with disabilities use their smiles and tenacity to infect the public, win respect, and achieve deep integration with society. These moments constitute a more moving picture than victory and medals.
Friendly support and an appointment to go to Hunan together
Behind the brilliant achievements and touching moments lies the systematic support for Hunan to build a “disability-friendly province”.
In recent years, Hunan has issued the “Opinions on Building a Disability-Friendly Province to Promote High-Quality Development of Disabled Persons in the New Era”, which has established 17 supporting measures from people’s livelihood security to social integration, and systematically deployed to promote the construction of a disabled-friendly province; the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government have continued for many years Increase investment, and the sports funding for disabled people will increase to 10.65 million yuan in 2025, nearly double that in 2023; the province has built 50 provincial self-improvement fitness demonstration sites, and 300 provincial social sports instructors for disabled people have gone deep into urban and rural areas, making “sports at the doorstep” possible.
The comprehensive strength of competitive sports for people with disabilities has steadily improved. Our province innovatively implements the “Young Seedling Plan” for Paralympic champions and builds a full-chain system of “selection-training-competition”. 14 athletes were selected to participate in the Paris Paralympic Games and won 12 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 3 bronze medals. The number of gold medals and medals was the highest in the history of our province. 20 athletes were selected to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Para Games and won 16 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. The 11th Provincial Games for People with Disabilities was successfully held. The scale of participation, competition items, and number of participants all hit a record high in the history of our province. Athletes such as Wen Xiaoyan and Shi Yiting entered the “Championship Class” of Beijing Sport University for further studies, achieving a seamless transition from the field to the classroom.
“Integration of sports and education” and “inclusion of people with disabilities” continue to be promoted. The Paris Paralympic champion went to Hunan University, Central South University and other universities to give inspirational speeches; the province’s Cloud Movement Conference for Disabled Persons was held for three consecutive times, with more than 200,000 disabled persons directly participating, and the platform’s attention exceeded 30 million, making the integration of the disabled and able-bodied the loudest theme.
System protection, fighting on the field, individual pursuit of dreams, social participation, Hunan’s “friendly support” is quietly changing the trajectory of countless lives, and the concept of “friendliness, love for Hunan” is becoming increasingly popular.
The Xiang River is surging, chasing dreams endlessly. On the evening of the 15th, what Hunan received was not only the competition flag, but also a solemn commitment to promote the comprehensive development of the cause of persons with disabilities and promote the progress of social civilization.
In 2029, let’s meet in Hunan for a friendly and friendly event!
(Text/Ma Rulan Li Yi)
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