Watching the Paralympic Games, people are always moved by the spirit of the disabled athletes, however at the same time, what people do also moved the disabled.
"The Paralympic Games really promote the development of the sports of disabled people," said Li Weipu, head coach of the Chinese powerlifting team. "Lots of things have been improved, and our powerlifters are quite moved by what the society did for them."
"For example, the venue this time is very good, especially in some details," said Li. "We didn't have rest areas after being weighed in other international competitions before, and our coaches and athletes had to bring towels themselves to sit on the ground. But this time, the venue has a rest area in the weighing room, and provides beds and blankets."
Powerlifting is held in the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics (BUAA), which was also the weightlifting venue in the Olympic Games.
"The athletes need to have something to eat after they are weighed, and this time the venue prepares food especially for them. In other competitions before, the players usually had to bring food themselves, and when they ate it, the food was already cold. Now food is no longer a problem. The players are all very satisfied."
Powerlifting developed quickly in China in recent years. There is a training base especially for powerlifting, which was built in Tianjin in 2000.
"We didn't have stable training place in the early years," said Li. "But along with the development of the sports of the disabled, we had our own training base eight years ago."
"Besides good facilities, the Tianjin training base also provides professional psychologists for the athletes," said Li. "A very small improvement can give huge encouragement to the disabled athletes. Along with the development of the sports of disabled people, the public has a new understanding toward the disabled, which also moved them a lot."
Li and his team watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games on Sep. 6, and Li said that when they heard the cheers from the crowd, they were all moved very much.
"We will do our best to get good results for our country," said Li.
China has great results in powerlifting in the previous two Paralympic Games, winning more golds than other Chinese teams. In 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, China took five golds in powerlifting, and in 2004 Athens Paralympics, China claimed five again.
"We hope we can win eight golds this time, just the same with the Chinese weightlifting team in Olympic Games," said Li.
The powerlifting competition at the Beijing Paralympic Games will start from Sep. 9 to 16.
(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2008)