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on september 13, song zhijiang, secretary of the xinxiang county party committee, and zhang qiong, county magistrate, went to beiwangma village to visit lan hanyu. photo by yang cui

chinanews.com yuncheng, september 13, title: shanxi xinjiang: hometown elders welcome paris paralympic bronze medalist lan hanyu home

author: gao yuqing, yang cui, wei shixin

"welcome the paralympic athletes to return with honor!" on the evening of september 12, a banner was particularly eye-catching at the arrival gate of zhangxiao airport in yuncheng, shanxi. it was a banner for the villagers to welcome lan hanyu, who won the bronze medal in the women's 100m t34 class at the paris paralympic games not long ago.

"here she comes, here she comes!" that night, a little girl in sportswear showed up and caused cheers and shouts. bi guanjun, deputy head of the xinxiang county government, and her family went to the airport to welcome her. everyone held up welcome banners and held flowers to warmly welcome this olympic athlete who brought glory to the country and added color to her hometown.

lan hanyu was born in beiwangma village, xinjiang county in 2007. she suffered from disability in both legs due to dystocia. when she was 14 years old, she was selected by the shanghai disabled persons' federation to attend the shanghai sports training center while attending longxing middle school in xinjiang county.

lan hanyu has shown great potential not long after she started wheelchair racing: she finished sixth in the chengdu marathon in 2022; fourth in the 100m and 400m events at the swiss athletics grand prix in 2023; in the same year, she won the gold medal in the women's 800m t34 final of the 4th asian para games in track and field with a time of 2 minutes 09.33 seconds, breaking the asian record.

lan hanyu, the bronze medalist of the paris paralympics, returns to her home in xinjiang county, yuncheng, shanxi. photo by yang cui

"i'm finally back. now i want to eat the hand-rolled noodles made by my grandma." the 17-year-old lan hanyu spoke clearly. she is the youngest athlete in the chinese sports delegation at the paris paralympics and it is her first time to participate in the paralympics. in the women's 100m t34 final of the paris paralympics, she won the bronze medal with a time of 18.45 seconds.

to welcome lan hanyu home, the villagers of beiwangma village, gujiao town, xinxiang county spontaneously organized to remove roadside weeds, clean the streets, turn on doorstep lights, and express their welcome and blessings to her in the simplest and most sincere way.

at 10 o'clock that evening, when lan hanyu got off the car, there was a burst of salutes, and the flower drum team, gong and drum team and other formations sang and danced. the streets were crowded with fellow villagers who came to welcome lan hanyu, and everyone's face was filled with excitement and pride.

the people of her hometown welcomed lan hanyu back with the most grand ceremony. lan hanyu's mother liu xiaoxu was particularly excited. she finally saw her daughter whom she had missed so much. "she has never complained since she joined the team. she has been training most of the time. she didn't come back for the chinese new year this year. looking at the various medals she has won in the past few years, i feel both sad and proud."

on the morning of september 13, song zhijiang, secretary of the xinxiang county party committee, and zhang qiong, the county magistrate, went to beiwangma village to visit lan hanyu. they learned in detail about lan hanyu's growth process, competition training, daily life and family situation. they highly praised her achievements in the competition, expressed warm congratulations on her winning honors for the motherland and hometown, and extended a warm welcome to her returning to her hometown. they hoped that lan hanyu would achieve more success in future competitions.

"i am very excited and happy to be back home. i am very happy to see so many people from my hometown come to welcome me. after a short reunion with my family, i will continue to devote myself to intensive training, prepare for the next competition, meet new challenges, and repay the country with excellent results." lan hanyu said. (end)

(china news network)