20 16 inspirational story of Summer Xu, champion of Rio Paralympics without arms.
A car accident made him lose his arms at the age of six.
Summer Xu is a 24-year-old Pingdingshan native and S6 swimmer. Summer Xu lost his arms in a sudden car accident when he was 6 years old.
1999, my mother took Summer Xu to a factory producing artificial limbs to buy artificial limbs. The person in charge of this factory happens to be a disabled person, and has also won the world champion of table tennis for the disabled. She asked Summer Xu what he liked, and Summer Xu said that he especially liked taking a bath and playing with water. The director suggested that Summer Xu's mother let him swim and let Summer Xu find himself again in this way.
After returning to Pingdingshan, my mother took Summer Xu to the swimming pool. At that time, Pingdingshan Disabled Persons' Federation was selecting and training disabled athletes to participate in the provincial Paralympic Games. From then on, Summer Xu started his swimming career with his first coach Ma.
Swimming hard, armless teenagers grow up.
For a child who has lost his arms, learning to swim has to pay a lot of hardships. When a healthy person swims, he paddles with his arms to breathe. Summer Xu can only rely on the strength of his waist. He swims slower than the average person and often chokes water. The coach prepared a floating back for him, tied it around his waist and slowly adapted to the swimming pool.
Summer Xu practices day and night and spends most of his time in the swimming pool every day. With the systematic guidance and help of the coach, Summer Xu has made remarkable progress. Less than two months after he began to practice swimming, he took part in the Fourth Disabled Games in Henan Province and won a gold medal, a silver medal and a bronze medal.
From then on, Summer Xu began to emerge in the domestic swimming competition for the disabled. In 2004, he won the S6 gold medal in 200m individual medley and the silver medal in 50m butterfly. At that time, Summer Xu said to his mother, "Look, I can be great!" "
Selected for the "national team" and became the gold medal "flying fish"
In 2004, Summer Xu was selected for the national swimming team. A few months later, he participated in the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games and became the youngest athlete in China. That year, he won the ninth place. However, this expedition inspired Summer Xu's Olympic dream, and he set himself the goal of winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games.
Summer Xu won three gold medals and two silver medals in the Far South Games held in Malaysia in 2006. In 2007, Summer Xu won a gold medal, a silver medal and a bronze medal at the World Disabled Swimming Open. In 2008, at the Beijing Paralympic Games, Summer Xu proved himself again, winning three gold medals and a bronze medal. On 20 12 London Paralympic Games, Summer Xu won four more gold medals and broke four world records.
After swimming for more than ten years, Summer Xu said that his greatest achievement was that he was no longer afraid when facing difficulties. Swimming gave him confidence and gained his pursuit and hope for life.
The old man and the sea: "man can be destroyed, but he can't be defeated!" " "
After the London Paralympics, he went back to school to continue his studies, and at the same time, he stopped formal training. This stop will last for three years. After the Chengdu Paralympic Games last year, Li of the National Disabled Swimming Team recalled Summer Xu to the team. "When we met, my heart thumped. How can he be so fat? How can this be practiced? " Li told reporters this year.
Later, under the guidance of coach Li, Summer Xu began to resume training. After training every day, he will give himself more, running alone 1 hour. A month later, he lost 5 kilograms, and his training began to get on the right track. After 10 months of hard work, Li and Summer Xu finally saw the effect at that time. They have lost weight and gained strength, but their grades are still far from his best. However, Summer Xu is not pessimistic. He has been working towards his goal bit by bit. After a winter's training, the coach finally said to him: "Your level has reached 85% of the best state, which is close to the London Paralympic Games. If you work harder, you can go to the appointment! " ?
On September 9th, Summer Xu first participated in the men's S6 50m butterfly, and then participated in the mixed 4× 50m freestyle relay, which not only won the gold medal, but also broke the world record. After the game, he said, "I feel great today." Although he looks calm, he can still feel his excitement at the moment from his trembling voice. "I swam the best freestyle in the last leg of the relay race, so I can break the record tomorrow!" On June 5438+00, although he failed to break the world record in S6 50m freestyle, he won his tenth Paralympic gold medal. Next, he will take part in the men's SM6 200m individual medley. Four years ago in London, he ranked first in this project. This time, he will try to win the championship again.
In the previous interview, Summer Xu said that he had practiced swimming for more than ten years, and the biggest gain was that he didn't have to be afraid when facing difficulties. "After practicing swimming for so many years, all the difficulties have been overcome and all the scenes have been experienced." He smiled and said, "I'm not afraid anymore. This gave me confidence. "
However, Summer Xu also has his own life troubles. He once told reporters: "People with physical disabilities like us are under great pressure to expose their limbs for the first time. You can imagine me showing up by the pool in my swimming trunks. I am very afraid of being looked at differently by others. "
Summer Xu, who has been able to operate the computer skillfully with his feet, inspired himself with Hemingway's famous words in The Old Man and the Sea in his personal QQ notes: "People can be destroyed, but they can't be defeated!" In his 24-year life, Summer Xu not only took it as a famous saying, but also practiced it with actions. Transfer from www. lemba. com inspirational life story