Original title: Every Dream Worth Watering – Tribute to Lijiang Athletes Riding the Wind and Waves at the Provincial Paralympic Games
On September 7, Lijiang Delegation swim team staff and athletes took a group photo.Photo by reporter Zeng Runmin
“Every color should blossom, don’t let only black and white be behind the sun, everyone has the right to expect …”
In the golden autumn of September, Dangui blooms and the 12th Yunnan Paralympic Games and the 6th Special Olympics are held in Yuxi as scheduled. I am fortunate to be a team service staff member of the Lijiang delegation swim team.
On the morning of September 7, with the successful conclusion of the swimming competition, my service work temporarily ended. Over the past 6 days, my work has been very rewarding. In my free time, I was deeply moved to see our athletes working hard and constantly challenging each other on the pitch.
“Every dream is worth watering”
This is the first time I have participated in the Provincial Paralympic Games, and it is also the first time that I have spent a lot of time with so many Paralympic athletes.
On September 2nd we arrived at Yuxi Athlete Village from Lijiang with the delegation.After an orderly and rigorous preparation and training in the initial phase, the competition officially began on September 4th.
Before that, as a staff member of the Lijiang Federation of People with Disabilities, I thought I had a deep understanding of these athletes. It was only after this intimate relationship that I really felt their courage and strength beyond ordinary people. .
All of these athletes have had a hard and unforgettable life experience. Some people are congenitally disabled, others are acquired misfortunes, others are blind, deaf and uncomfortable. They can’t hear the colors of the four seasons with their eyes, they can’t hear all kinds of beautiful sounds in the world, and they can’t do all kinds of actions with ease, but they’ve worked hard to get out of the dark past and chose to find light in adversity. Stubbornly resist fate. In the swimming arena, I was deeply shocked when I saw severely disabled athletes with no arms or legs entering the water: on the one hand, I admired their perseverance and courage to fight, and on the other, I loved the fate of their lives on them, cruelty and injustice. Such severely handicapped athletes can be seen on the field every day and we have seen them outdo themselves, go all out and continue to make Lijiang more beautiful.
In addition to dealing with physical challenges, the most challenging thing for disabled athletes are psychological problems. In the swim team I serve, two of the three youngest members are only 8 years old, but they are very attentive and self-disciplined. In the team, they always obeyed the command, acted collectively, cared for and encouraged each other, and worked together to complete the game.
Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times … They sweated and worked harder than ordinary people and endured all the mental pressures and physical limitations. No matter what kind of honor they won, the moment they entered the arena, He won, he won the confidence and courage, but also let the dream blossom everywhere.
“Millions of streams condense into the sea”
In addition to the positive energy brought by the athletes, this competition has also allowed me to witness more moving moments behind groups of disabled people and work side by side with them.
In just 6 days we followed the athletes to eat, live and travel. In the game, even if some players lag behind, they still insist on not giving up and persist until the end. Outside the venue, the audience also silently watched and continued applauding, conveying warmth and encouragement. We have seen many moments like this over the past 6 days, everyone silently cheering for every player and even every life he has dared to challenge.
In addition to moving moments on the pitch, athletes and logistics teams can also get along happily in life. Athletes embody as happy messengers, always sending positive and upbeat energy to the staff behind them.Some players who lost in the competition even comforted the accompanying staff in turn. The staff also treated them like their own children and meticulously looked after them. and encouraging.
In the countless heartbreaking and inspiring moments of these Games, we have deeply felt that there is true love and love in the world. As long as there is love, dreams will always have light; as long as there is love, life will be more exciting! (Correspondent Wu Mingzhen)
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