The story of this girl from China served as an example to many people – how iron will and desire can be.
When Qian Hongyan was 4 years old, she was hit by a truck. The girl survived, but doctors had to amputate both her legs.
The baby’s family lived very poorly. The parents were ordinary farmers, there were three children in the family (besides Qian, there were two more boys). The girl’s mom and dad did not have money to buy her prosthetics.
Then the grandfather suggested his own option. He took a basketball, cut it in half and put Qian in it. He gave the little girl two construction tools (plastering trowels). So the girl began to move around on her own.
It took Qian about an hour to get to school, seven minutes from her home, but as the girl herself says, this only strengthened her willpower.
The girl moved around in the ball for 5 years, wearing out 8 of them. In 2007, Qian received the coveted prostheses.
A year later, the girl decided to take up swimming. She was very envious of her peers, because they could run and jump, but she could not. In the water, Qian felt like everyone else.
At first it was scary and difficult for her, she was afraid of choking. But the girl did not lose faith in herself and persistence. She trained for 4 hours a day, swimming 10 km!
Thanks to her hard work and determination, Qian became the national champion at the 2009 Chinese Paralympic Swimming Games.
Unfortunately, the girl failed to get to the Paralympic Games in 2012. But she did not give up and continued to train hard.
Qian won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke final at the 2015 Yunnan Paralympic Games.
In 2016, the girl’s dream came true and she took part in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. There, she was among the top ten swimmers.
The strength of spirit, determination and hard work of this fragile Chinese girl are amazing. Good luck to her and achieving her goals!
But sometimes we complain that everything is bad, difficult, unrealistic. And what will you say now? Is it difficult for you?