Eyeing glory
Country’s top para-athletes hit slopes ahead of Beijing 2022 Games
Wu Zhongwei, a member of China’s paralympic snowboarding team, said the moment he takes off during a jump and hangs in the air is when he gets the greatest satisfaction from his rides down the mountain.
It’s also the moment that makes him completely forget his disability and reminds him that he can even do things that able-bodied people cannot achieve.
Along with 20 teammates, the 26-year-old has been working hard preparing for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics in Chongli district, Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, which will co-host the games with the capital.
“Snowboarding has given me a purpose in life again and made me feel unstoppable,” said Wu, who uses a prosthesis because his lower left leg was amputated following a car accident in 2014.
After the accident, Wu said he felt hopeless about life and became depressed. He locked himself at home for two years, doing nothing but playing video games all day long.
“A friend couldn’t stand seeing me like that, so he suggested that I join the local para-cycling team in Hebei in 2016, even though I had never been keen on sports before,” he said.
“That decision changed my life because by overcoming the difficulties in sports, I regained my confidence. It was not an easy thing to do.”
Natural talent
To find a new challenge, Wu started learning to snowboard in 2018.
Jurica Stankovic, head coach of the snowboarding team, watched Wu reach the finish line in style during a training session at Chongli’s Genting Snow Park.
“Wu is one of the best snowboard cross athletes in the team because he’s a humble learner and naturally talented. If he covered up his metal artificial limb, no one would be able to tell that the cool snowboarder in front of them has such a severe disability,” he said.
There are around 40 different terrain features at the park’s training base for snowboard cross, including five turns and eight different jumps with a vertical drop of 200 meters, according to the 43-year-old veteran Serbian snowboarder.
Para-snowboarding was the last sport added to the Winter Paralympic
Games in 2014. During the rides, Wu can reach 90 kilometers per hour and can complete the course in about 1 minute 20 seconds.
“He is the real ‘terminator’,” said Stankovic, adding that it is the first time he has coached para-athletes.
He praised their determination. “Para-athletes might fall more than able-bodied snowboarders when mastering a technique. Also, it takes longer to adjust the snowboards and bindings so they can find the most comfortable positions, as their disabilities affect the way they control their bodies,” he said.
“But they are never afraid of pushing their limits, so I have to keep making the course more difficult. More important, they can inspire more people with disabilities to learn what they are capable of. I believe that’s more important than winning gold medals at the Winter Paralympics.”
Zhu Dewen, leader of the coaching team for China’s paralympic skiing squad, said he has witnessed how para-athletes gradually become more confident and optimistic through sports.
“We have a cross-country skier who had both arms amputated, who didn’t like to communicate with people when he first joined the team in 2006. By competing around the world and gaining other people’s respect, he has opened up and become a different person,” said Zhu, who has been coaching paraathletes since 2002.
He added that Beijing’s 2015 winning bid to host the Games — which will be held from March 4 to 13 next year — has created great opportunities for para-athletes to thrive in winter sports as they can receive more support than ever before.
China has only managed to take one gold medal in previous Winter Paralympic Games.
In addition to investing to improve access to course facilities, China has launched several scientific research programs to refine skiing equipment for para-athletes and help them train better and more safely, said Zhu, who is with the team in Chongli.
For the team, every training session is valuable because the skiing season will end soon.
Tailor-made skis
Shan Yilin was born with a deformed lower right leg, which means she is unable to walk properly.
As a winter biathlete she needs to sit on tailor-made skis to complete the cross-country course and tackle the shooting discipline.
“I am training on skis developed by a research team at Tsinghua University. They have recently come over to see if there is still room for improvement, especially to make the skis strong enough to withstand the pressure if I fall,” said the 20-year-old who took up skiing in 2016.
Shan said her legs often become numb when she sits on the skies for too long but that’s trivial compared with the joy she derives from the sport. “I am often inspired by my teammates who have more-severe disabilities than me. What’s more, skiing is fun. I just love the feeling of sliding on the snow,” she said.
Wu’s limp was only noticeable when he took off the snowboard at the end of the training session on March 20.
However, he said he wasn’t bothered about it as snowboarding success means he no longer feels like a disabled person.
“If I can fly when I snowboard, I can do anything with my artificial limb. My disability no longer gets in the way of how I want to live my life,” he said.