{"id":22740,"date":"2008-08-13T15:00:29","date_gmt":"2008-08-13T22:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=22740"},"modified":"2008-08-13T15:02:14","modified_gmt":"2008-08-13T22:02:14","slug":"still-finding-joy-in-sport-that-led-to-paralysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2008\/08\/still-finding-joy-in-sport-that-led-to-paralysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Still Finding Joy in Sport That Led to Paralysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Chinese gymnasts are making both positive<\/a> and negative<\/a> news, the New York Times profiles <\/a>former professional gymnast Sang Lan, who was paralyzed during a competition ten years ago:<\/p>\n

\n Ten years ago, she was a 17-year-old competing at the Goodwill Games in New York. During a routine warm-up vault, Sang landed on her head and sustained a spinal injury that left her paralyzed from the chest down. A decade later, she is a college graduate and news media figure, a symbol of gymnastics\u2019 inherent danger and of spirited resilience in the face of catastrophic disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel anything bad,\u201d Sang said in an interview over the weekend, explaining that she still followed gymnastics and may provide television or Internet commentary during the Olympics. \u201cI learned to face reality from the beginning. Sometimes, when I watch old videos of me flying in gymnastics, I\u2019m proud that I used to be so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

[…] \u201cI understand the unquenchable craving for gold medals,\u201d Sang said. \u201cI am against this trend. The sport should be the embodiment of beauty and harmony of the human body. We should bring pleasure and beauty to the audience, not just, Oh, they are doing another difficult trick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safety-related changes have been made in the vault after a handful of paralyzing injuries. The vaulting horse, once a pommel horse turned sideways for women, now resembles a cushiony potato chip. But the changes have come too late for Sang. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Chinese gymnasts are making both positive and negative news, the New York Times profiles former professional gymnast Sang Lan, who was paralyzed during a competition ten years ago: Ten years ago, she was a 17-year-old competing at the Goodwill Games in New York. During a routine warm-up vault, Sang landed on her head and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7141],"class_list":["post-22740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society","tag-gymnastics","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nStill Finding Joy in Sport That Led to Paralysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2008\/08\/still-finding-joy-in-sport-that-led-to-paralysis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Still Finding Joy in Sport That Led to Paralysis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Chinese gymnasts are making both positive and negative news, the New York Times profiles former professional gymnast Sang Lan, who was paralyzed during a competition ten years ago: Ten years ago, she was a 17-year-old competing at the Goodwill Games in New York. 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