Paralympic success masks tough life for disabled Chinese
Friday, 19th September 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)
China owned the Paralympic medal count even more than it did in the Olympics. Its 211 gold medals more than doubled the 102 for runner-up Great Britain. The host country claimed 89 golds, compared to 42 for Great Britain.Despite China's strong showing, the country still has a long way to go to improve everyday life for disabled people. A recent China Daily article enumerates some of the challenges that handicapped people face in everyday life in Beijing. The problem of a lack of accessible buildings, including schools, and poor handicap access inside most of the capital's new subways, is compounded by a refusal among some able-bodied employers and service workers to cooperate in assisting the disabled.
According to the story, by Eric Roeder, "Drivers of buses with wheelchair lifts claim to not know how to operate the lifts, and the more honest drivers saying they do not want to make the effort."
He goes on to address employment barriers:
"The China Disabled Persons Federation, which has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities, notes that some companies deliberately break employment laws that require them to hire a percentage of disabled persons. These companies would rather pay fines than hire workers with disabilities."
Tags: Beijing, Paralympics
China dominant in Paralympics
Tuesday, 16th September 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Archer Chen Changjie celebrates his gold medal.
China is tops in seven different disciplines: archery (2 gold, 7 total); athletics (34 gold, 64 total); goalball (1 gold, 2 total); judo (4 gold, 7 total); powerlifting (8 gold, 12 total); table tennis (10 gold, 18 total); wheelchair fencing (5 gold, 9 total).
Unlike in the Olympics, China is a force in the pool at the Paralympics, finishing second to the United States with 13 gold medals to the USA's 17. The hosts actually led the overall medal count in swimming, with 52 to the United States' 44.
Athletics will dominate today's schedule, with 26 of its remaining 31medals to be awarded. Football, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, table tennis and wheelchair fencing also have gold medal competitions over the next two days.
Chen Changjie image: Paralympic.beijing2008.cn
Tags: archery, athletics, Beijing, goalball, gold medals, judo, Paralympics, powerlifting, table tennis, wheelchair fencing
China's first Paralympic gold, the LZR at the Paralympics
Monday, 8th September 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Swimmer Du Jianping accepts China's first Paralympic gold for 2008.
Du beat the world record in the men's 100-meter freestyle S3 class by 5.87 seconds, swimming it in 1:35.21. China is
Just as in the Olympics last month, swimming records are being broken every day in the Paralympics this week in Beijing. So far, 15 world records have been bested.
Again, the Speedo LZR swimsuit is partly responsible, though not as many Paralympic athletes will be wearing the suit. One third of Japan's team will wear the LZR, and Australian swimmers were reportedly scrambling at the last minute to secure leftover suits from Olympians, as Speedo said it couldn't make enough suits fast enough for the Paralympic team. Depending on their disability, the suit is unwearable for some Paralympic athletes.
Du Jianping image: China.org.cn
Tags: Beijing, Du Jianping, Paralympics, Speedo, swimming
China Wins Seven Golds at Paralympic World Cup
Wednesday, 14th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Chinese cyclist Liang Guihua
The event included four different sports (basketball, athletics, swimming and cycling), with 175 medals on offer. The 400 competitors came from 45 different countries. The event's Web site does not offer a full medal tally, but you can view results event-by-event here. The site reports that China won silver in women's wheelchair basketball, losing to the Netherlands 54-41 in the final.
The British swimmers set three new world records—Heather Frederiksen's 1:17.41 in the S8 100-meter backstroke; Sam Hynd's 4:31.33 in the S8 400-meter freestyle final; and Natalie Jones' 3:15.72 in the SM6 200-meter individual medley.
The Chinese paralympic team is feared for its unknowns, according to Matthew Pryor at the Times Online (UK). China won 63 golds and 141 medals overall at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, and is expected to be a major force at the 2008 games.
Image: Paralympic World Cup
Tags: athletics, cycling, paralympics, swimming, wheelchair basketball
Paralympic Athletes Kick @$$
Wednesday, 14th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
If you are out and about in Beijing these days, it's hard to go far with crossing paths with someone in the sports world. Recently, while braving the crowds and aggressive vendors in search of some bargains at the Silk Market, I noticed a couple of athletic-looking women in wheelchairs. It turned out that they were players on Australia's wheel chair basketball team, in town for a test event for the Paralympic Games taking place in Beijing September 6-17.I was seriously bummed to have missed the action, and even more disappointed when I went to the BOCOG Paralympics Web site to find no information on the recent event.
One Olympics fanatic I know is fond of saying "The Paralympics are like kissing your sister. It's something you do because you have to, but you don't enjoy it." The cities that host the Olympics and the corporate sponsors that are in the game for eyeballs and market share might feel that way, but anyone who truly loves sports should not.
I've personally had the opportunity to watch paraplegic men play ice sledge hockey in New York and blind teenagers play soccer in Kunming, at China's National Paralympic Games in 2007. They are playing a different game—blind soccer has more focus on dribbling skills and less on passing; sledge hockey hinges less on finesse and more on hard checks and brute force—but what these athletes accomplish is remarkable.
In both cases, the game that was borne of these physical limitations wasn't less than its able-bodied counterpart. It wasn't just different, either; it was a display of amazing physical accomplishments without the help of abilities that the rest of us think we can't live without. Those blind kids could dribble circles around a lot of soccer players I know who have 20/20 vision. And I wouldn't get on the rink with those hockey players without very good health insurance.
Paralympians are impressive from a pure athletic standpoint, but they also inspire in a way that able-bodied athletes don't. And for people who find themselves suddenly limited by the loss of a limb or one of their senses, they become role models who offer motivatioin for staying physically and mentally healthy despite this new limitation.
With the Olympic games, and able-bodied sports in general, being bigger and more heavily promoted, China Sports Today will continue to give them more coverage. But just know that when we don't cover the disabled sports world it's not because we are anything less than amazed at the athletic accomplishments on display. And when we do cover them, it certainly doesn't remind us of kissing our sisters.
Tags: blind soccer, paralympics, wheel chair basketball