Original title: Every dream is worth irrigating – Tribute to the Lijiang athletes who ride the wind and waves at the Provincial Paralympic Games
On September 7, the staff and athletes of the Lijiang delegation’s swimming team took a group photo.Photo by reporter Zeng Runmin
“Every color should bloom, don’t let only black and white 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 swimming team.
On the morning of September 7th, with the successful conclusion of the swimming competition, my service work came to an end temporarily. In the past 6 days, my work has been very fulfilling. In my spare time, I was deeply touched by watching our athletes work tenaciously and constantly challenge themselves on the field.
“Every dream is worth irrigating”
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 long time with so many Paralympic athletes.
On September 2, we arrived at the Yuxi Athlete Village from Lijiang with the delegation. After an orderly and strict preparation and training in the early stage, the competition officially started on September 4.
Prior to this, as a staff member of the Lijiang Disabled Persons’ Federation, I thought I had a deep understanding of these athletes. It was not until this intimate relationship that I truly felt their courage and strength beyond ordinary people. .
All of these athletes have had an unforgettable rough life experience. Some people are congenitally disabled; some are acquired misfortunes; some are blind, deaf, and inconvenient. They can’t feel the colors of the four seasons with their eyes, they can’t listen to all kinds of beautiful sounds in the world, and they can’t do all kinds of actions with ease, but they worked hard to get out of the dark past and chose to find light in adversity. Resist fate stubbornly. In the swimming arena, I was deeply shocked when I saw severely disabled athletes with no arms or legs going into the water. On the one hand, I admired their perseverance and daring to fight, and on the other hand, I cherished the fate of their lives on them. cruelty and injustice. Such severely physically handicapped athletes can be seen on the field every day, and we have seen them surpass 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 is psychological problems. In the swimming team I serve, two of the three youngest members are only 8 years old, but they are very careful and self-disciplined. In the team, they have always obeyed the command, acted collectively, cared and encouraged each other, and worked together to complete the game.
Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times… They put in more sweat and effort than ordinary people, and endured all the mental pressure and physical limits. No matter what kind of honor they won, the moment they walked into the arena, Has won, 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 also allowed me to witness more heartwarming moments behind the disabled groups and working hand in hand with them.
In just 6 days, we have been following the athletes to eat, live and travel. In the game, even if some players fall behind, they still insist on not giving up and persist to the end. Outside the venue, the audience also silently guarded, and kept applauding, conveying warmth and encouragement. We have witnessed a lot of moments like this in the past 6 days. Everyone tacitly cheered for every player, and even cheered for every life who dared to challenge.
In addition to the heartwarming moments on the field, in life, athletes and logistics teams can also get along happily. Athletes are incarnated as happy messengers, always sending positive and optimistic 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 gave them meticulous care. caring and encouraging.
In the countless tear-jerking and inspiring moments of this Games, we 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)