shining in paris | zhao yuping: sports changed my world
2024-09-01
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
zhao yuping at the award ceremony on august 31. photo by xinhua news agency reporter huang wei
on august 31, in the women's javelin f13 final at the paris paralympic games, hebei athlete zhao yuping won the championship and broke the world record, winning the first gold medal for hebei athletes in track and field events. from fourth place at the rio paralympic games, to silver at the tokyo paralympic games, to standing on the highest podium at the paris paralympic games, zhao yuping finally realized her dream of becoming a champion.
waiting for the paralympic gold medal for 12 years
the first throw was 44.72 meters, breaking the paralympic record; the second throw was 47.06 meters, breaking the world record... in total, there were 6 throws, and except for the fourth mistake, zhao yuping's score in each throw was above 40 meters.
"i had thought that i would have a chance of winning this time, but i was still very excited and thrilled to actually win the championship." after receiving the gold medal, zhao yuping held it tightly in her hands.
she missed the gold medal because she "trained too hard" before the tokyo paralympics, which caused a waist injury.
during the paris paralympic games, she trained more seriously and harder than before. with the help of li xiuqing, coach of the hebei province disabled track and field team, she carefully analyzed the technical principles of each movement, how to use force, how to find the angle, and repeated the details of each movement countless times. in the summer, the temperature outside was nearly 40 degrees celsius. she threw 50 to 60 times in the morning, and then did strength and quality training in the afternoon. after training every day, her clothes were soaked with sweat...
the way the javelin throws generate force is contrary to the body's habits. if you want to achieve good results, you must make your body accustomed to it through high-intensity training.
"after so many years of training, i have never heard her complain about the hardship or tiredness. she always completes the training plans without compromise." zhao yuping's performance made li xiuqing give a thumbs up to this apprentice.
sweat brings continuous improvement in performance. from 41.85 meters in the 2021 tokyo paralympic games, to 45.69 meters in the 2023 hangzhou asian para games, to 47.06 meters today, zhao yuping's javelin is throwing farther and farther.
"it's not a coincidence that she achieved this result in today's competition. she has done it many times in her usual training. this is the result of her 12 years of solid training and accumulation." li xiuqing said, "i believe she will have better performance in the future."
sports light up the new world
zhao yuping, 30 years old this year, comes from an ordinary family in dingxing county, baoding city. due to congenital eye disease, the vision range of her two eyes is only about two meters.
in this blurry world, zhao yuping was confused for a time and even didn't want to go out, feeling that she could accomplish nothing.
in 2012, the hebei provincial disabled persons’ federation came to the local area to select athletes, which opened up a new world for zhao yuping, who was 18 years old at the time.
"if i didn't take my child to try, she might not even be able to leave the village in her entire life, and i would feel sorry for her." zhao yuping's mother liu sujun explained, recalling the reason for taking her child to participate in the selection.
after starting to practice throwing events, zhao yuping discovered that she was not completely useless. she could throw the shot put and javelin so far.
this also helped zhao yuping find the direction to work hard. she practiced very hard and became cheerful and confident.
when she couldn't see the movements clearly, she would take the initiative to communicate with the coach, asking the coach to hold her arms and bend her legs to figure out each technical movement; when she couldn't figure out the details, she would go to her teammates to review and study them over and over again. even when she went home to rest during the holidays, she never slacked off and bought javelin, barbells and other equipment to practice on her own.
although injuries are inevitable during training, zhao yuping said, "maybe this is the medal of my own struggle."
zhao yuping's performance is getting better and better. she won three gold medals in javelin, discus and shot put at the national paralympic track and field championships; she broke the world record in women's javelin and won the national paralympic games; she won the women's javelin at the world paralympic track and field championships and broke the world record again...
"i have a cabinet full of medals and trophies, all of which are the sights i have seen through sports." zhao yuping said that it was sports training that made her world clearer and bigger. she also changed from being introverted and unconfident at the beginning to being good at communication and full of sunshine.
and she also brings this confidence to more people.
every time she goes home, she actively participates in the activities of the disabled persons' federation whenever she has the chance, giving speeches to disabled people, communicating with disabled friends, and inspiring them through her own stories. "sports have changed my world, and i also hope that more and more disabled friends will participate in physical exercise, not only to strengthen their bodies, but also to build confidence in life." (hebei daily reporter yang mingjing)
