Secrets of Champion：Part II

Secrets of Champion (Photo by Liao Lulu)

Part II

Source: Popular Photograpjy

Motivation from Tribulations

Though seemingly an unwitting act, this was actuallycompleted with painstaking efforts. In 2003, Hou Bin, a junior college studentthen, was admitted into the Advertising Major of the School of Journalism andCommunication in Xiamen University, becoming one of the first physicallychallenged athletes to study in a university. In 2009, he was enrolled in theExecutive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) Program in XiamenUniversity, which made him the first physically challenged person pursuing EMBAin China. After that, he successively participated in the Sinology Program and BuddhismProgram to 「equip himself with more knowledge.」

According to Hou Bin, he is always discontented with hislot, and this kind of discontent has been intensified by the reality in severalstages of his life.

When the nine-year-old Hou Bin won the second place inthe 100-meter dash at the school sports meeting, he was so excited and eager toshare the good news with his family that he walked across railroad tracks,totally forgetting the warning of his family, which left one of his legs crushedby the train. One day at the age of 16 when Hou Bin was busy carrying toilet paperrolls in a welfare factory inadvertently, he saw the news of the National Gamesof Disabled Persons on a small television; the next day, he went to apply for asports school. Climbing up seven floors for six consecutive days, he eventuallyconvinced the coach to take him in. At 19 when he could only jump at a heightof 1.55 meters, Hou Bin claimed that he could reach two meters someday, whichwas taunted as a 「fantastic notion」 by others; however, with a height of 1.94meters, he finally won three high-jump champions of the Paralympic Games heldin Atlanta, Sydney and Athens in a row. Even till today, this record remainsunbeaten. Later on, he traveled to the South Pole, swam in the North Pole, andtook part in the Gobi Challenge every year, doing whatever he wanted unwaveringly.

「The world of the physically challenged is quite dark,but Hou Bin never complains about it. He is so fantastic,」 a student talkedabout his story in the Gobi Challenge in tears. In May 2014 when Hou Binparticipated in the Xuan Zang Road Gobi Challenge for the fourth time, hefinished the 138-kilometer challenge on bare foot. On the first day, Hou Binwas confronted with a moderate gale. He set out earlier on his artificial limbat four o』clock in the morning. 「I walked like a penguin, blown down by the windtime after time and rolling down from one dune to another, which even made mefeel amazed.」 By ten o』clock at night, he had finished 32 kilometers. When hearrived at the base camp and joined all the others, he was welcomed by morethan 20 whistling emergency cars with lights on, and saluted by loud cheers.

Rushing about all daylong, it was already midnight when Hou Bin finally got some time for a rest. However,before long, he would have to prepare for the lines of his speech and gothrough details of the PPT to be used the next day.

Hou Bin enjoys being paid attention to, which actuallyresults from his fear lasting for almost 30 years — neverallowing himself to be segregated by others. More often than not, he wouldrecall the day when his leg was crushed: Looking up, he saw people gatheringaround with lamentation, looking as if they all thought that 「the child ishopeless.」

According to media reports, the topics of Hou Bin』sspeeches are always changing, such as 「Let Children Be Champions of Life,」「Never Have Your Dreams Stolen,」 and 「How to Become a World Champion.」 Nomatter how the topics change, however, 「dream」 remains a key word in hisspeeches. Hou Bin speaks from his own experiences that 「where there is a dream,there is a future.」

At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing ParalympicGames, Hou Bin, as the main torchbearer, lifted himself and his wheelchair upon a rope 165 times for 39 meters to the stadium』s top simply with strength ofhis arms in three minutes, and lit the Paralympic caldron, which moved peopleall over the world. Usually, he would play this 3-minute video at the end of eachspeech, and the audiences would cheer and applause for him in tears.

In fact, he was not the first choice of the maintorchbearer in the very beginning.

Hou Bin, serving as the goodwillambassador of the public service fund-raising activity, was gathering with hisold friends on the grassland of the Beijing National Stadium.

In 2015, standing on the grassland of the Beijing National Stadium where he lit the Paralympic caldronseven years ago, all sorts of emotions welled up.

Twenty days before the opening ceremony, the directorteam set the caldron lighting scheme down, and selected two athletes with lowerlimb disabilities as candidates for the main torchbearer: a shot put championand Hou Bin. Only when Hou Bin arrived at the scene did he know that the shotput champion was their 「priority」 while he was just a 「replacement.」

On the first day when they tried lifting themselves up for12 meters, with strong hands, the shot put champion was quite advantageous,leaving Hou Bin far behind. After that, Hou Bin found an iron bar and put itbetween the machines for hanging people to make an easy horizontal bar, so asto train his upper limb power.

Undoubtedly, there were some potential dangers during thetraining. 「The ropes would easily intertwine, and the wheelchair would thenstuck in the air. It was rather uncomfortable to wait for a rescue,」 despite ofthis, Hou Bin was always the first one to put the directors』 instruction intopractice. 「The 『priority』 always stood behind, unwilling to try first. But itwas improper for the directors to demonstrate for us, so I chose to stand inthe breach.」

The training base was located at a cantonment in suburbanBeijing. Despite the tough conditions, with grasshoppers all around, Hou Binstill worked arduously. One day, the famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou, whodirected the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008Beijing Summer Olympic Games, called up to ask about the training progress. Thevolunteers told Zhang that the 「replacement」 was stuck in the air and they wererescuing him. After a few times, what Zhang heard about was all concerning the「replacement.」

I asked him how he mustered such perseverance. Afterthinking for a moment, he answered: 「Perhaps I have already got used to facingdifficulties. The healthy use the back-first technique in high jump, but I haveto apply the head-first one. With the cross bar in front of me, I grit my teethand head toward my goal.」

Lighting caldron for the Paralympic Games brought himboth the best and worst moments of his life. For a whole month, he was suffocatedby interviews; but a week later, no one cared about this anymore.

Compared with normal sports meeting, sports for the physicallychallenged receive far less attention. And Hou Bin, with threeParalympic gold medals, is of no exception. Actually, there are always morereferees than audiences in daily competitions. There was one time when Houattended an activity together with Liu Xiang. While Liu had to avoid the media,Hou could stay in the same bus with those media workers and still remainunrecognized. Though just reported to be the first Paralympic ambassador in theworld, he was barely known to them.

At that time, already retiring from sports, he fell intoa state of quandary: What else could he do except for being an athlete? Howcould a physically challenged man do something useful?

Maybe he bears a stronger sense of mission than others.As for other retiring physically challenged athletes, they choose to eitherlive a nine-to-five life or become 「landlords」 by investing in the real estatewith the bonus earned. However, this kind of life is not what Hou wants.

It was not until several months later that the situation changed.He received a phone call from a school, and was invited to deliver a speech forfree to its students. For there would be no payment, the invitation had beendeclined by an Olympic champion, hence the school』s resorting to Paralympicchampions. 「No problem!」 Hou Bin accepted without hesitation.

Hou Bin is always busy rushing about nation wide like a 「flying man」 for speeches, public serviceactivities and experience-sharing sessions. To attend each event on time, he hasto travel around the clock. Just arriving in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, hestill had to travel two more hours to Wuzhong District for the pacemaker eventof the Wuzhong (Suzhou) 「Around Taihu」 International Race Walking and WalkingMulti-Day Competition to be held two days later.

Putting on shoes is quiteeasy for ordinary people, but Hou Bin has to do this with the help of a tool.

Not to disturb his family,after returning back home, Hou Bin would turn on the light in the kitchen for acup of water, and then sort out his speech materials in the living room withlights off.

「I never thought I could make a living by this. I justwant to seize every opportunity to affect others with my own stories,」 hearingthe thunderous applause, Hou Bin found speaking so amazing. 「With nobody totalk to, I had been oppressive for 30 years. However, I now have a stage tospeak out all my pent-up opinions, and to influence the audiences, laughing andcrying together. What a change!」 In 1996 when Hou Bin won the first Paralympicgold medal, he was invited onto the stage to deliver a report. Nevertheless,the words were written by someone else as entrusted by the China DisabledPersons』 Federation, and the whole scene was serious. Then 21-year-old, Hou Binwas quite nervous and even skipped the lines.

With no speech transcripts prepared, Hou Bin has all hisdrafts worked out in his mind. Before a speech, he would simply organize histhoughts; once stepped on to the stage, he would improvise lines and speak out incommon words. Once, there was somebody who volunteered to write for him, but「could not find any inspiration」 after quite a long time. Hou Bin had also oncepaid for a speech training, only ending up finding those techniques difficultto master. 「They use flowery words to express profound ideas, but it is beyondmy reach. I』d just talk about my own life. Why is my life story impressive?That』s because it tells about me.」

Different from those speakers who focus on tribulationsin life, Hou Bin is more willing to show his painstakingly obtainedachievements: Paralympic Games, South Pole, North Pole and Gobi Challenge…However, not everyone likes this kind of delivery, saying that he is tooperfect to be surprising, and thus less down-to-earth in the talent showprograms. Last year, in the reality TV show 「Super Mr.」 of Anhui TV, theinstructors Qin Hailu and Li Xiaoran argued on the scene about him. Qin heldthat he was too perfect to be real and did not show his sadness, whereas Lidisagreed, saying that 「I love this virile man. He can tell his stories in sucha manner solely because he really made it. Why should the physically challengedalways begin with pouring out their miseries?」

It is only when there are few people around that Hou Bin wouldtalk about some miserable memories. His mother was overwhelmed with grief whenhis leg was crushed; his parents borrowed money in small sums but all relativesavoided them; he thought about jumping into the river and ended up his life in Jiamusiseveral times; and he had once been engaged in a film for three months, but thedirector never mentioned about the payment. Definitely, these were allheadlines for him, but he never talked about them in his speeches.

With no assistant, Hou Bin does everything by himself.Wherever he goes for a speech, he would lug his suitcase on his own. He neverconsiders himself as a physically challenged man, even though he is thought tobe the one who needs to be taken care of. Suffering from ailment caused byyears of sports career and numerous speech activities, every time he comesback, Hou would visit doctors of traditional Chinese medicine for acupunctureand manipulation. Not to disturb his family, after returning back home exhaustedat night, Hou Bin would turn on the light in the kitchen for a cup of water,and then sort out his speech materials in the living room with lights off. Whataudiences see on the stage is always the Hou Bin speaking amid attention inhigh spirits.

After a whole day』s workat night, Hou Bin, exhausted, was on his way home, leaving the view of his backilluminated by the streetlamp.

Behind the door of HouBin』s bedroom, there is a daily regimen schedule made by his wife Mrs. Chi, remindinghim to mind health and rest on time. Even so, Hou Bin can only sleep on timetwice a week.

Three years old though, HouBin』s son can now help his father tie shoelaces before going out.

Hou Bin was busy with thefamily party held by his father in law.

Mrs. Chi, Hou Bin』s wife,is the most important person behind him. The happy family supports hissuccessful transformation. They usually pick up their son home from thekindergarten after work.

Pivot of Happiness

Hou Bin and his wife fell in love at first sight when theywent to buy curtains, which was quite romantic. At that time, he was notwell-known, and there was a great disparity between their family circumstances:What Hou had was just an old second-hand motorcycle while Mrs. Chi had threecars and her own company. However, Mrs. Chi, kind as she is, took economicdisparity for nothing, not to mention his deformity. When in love, Hou Binpicked Mrs. Chi up every day on his motorcycle. Though suffering from badweathers and limited space of the motorcycle, they managed to find happiness.The couple gave birth to a son after marriage, and they three live a sweet lifeenvied by all.

Hou Bin, once a layman in speech, has now become anexcellent orator. Although his wife had only listened to his speeches on thescene twice, the two were of great significance to him at that time. It was hiswife』s patient encouragement and support that gave him the courage to carve outa new path at the critical juncture of his transformation.

Mrs. Chi, dainty, kind, wise and good at housework, comesfrom the southern part of Fujian Province. She is really a good wife who notonly takes care of Hou Bin』s daily life, but even helps him match clothes everyday in advance. Behind the door of Hou Bin』s bedroom, there is a daily regimenschedule made by her, reminding him to mind health and rest on time. Even so,Hou Bin can only sleep on time twice a week.

In February 2016, Hou Bin and his family were invited toa family program of BTV. From nine o』clock in the morning when they entered thefilm studio to six o』clock in the afternoon, Mrs. Chi had been standing offstage watching them all the time, cheering for and encouraging her husband andson. That was the first time when they three had attended a program together,and Mrs. Chi, smiling all along, was truly an assistant of the father and son.

Whenever they are free, the couple would send their sonto the kindergarten. Watching them walking along the road hand in hand, Ifinally realize that this family is the pivot of Hou Bin』s happiness.

Having No More Doubts in His Forties

Nowadays, Hou Bin concentrates only on two things — speech and charity — and he enjoys himself in doing so. In the nearly200 speeches he delivered over the past year, a half are for commercialpurposes and the other for public service.

The speeches delivered for commercial purposes are, onthe one hand, for a living; on the other hand, for raising funds necessary forpublic service programs. Knowing well the pains brought by his permanentdisability, Hou Bin is desirous to help those children in need with his ownefforts and power, and support them to realize their dreams.

In 2016, Hou Bin was busy preparing for the launch of the「Shanghai Stand Up Charity Foundation.」 Together with the 9958 Aid Hotline ofthe China Charities Aid Foundation for Children and Beijing Reha InternationalOrthopaedic Trade Co. Ltd., Hou launched the 「Stand Up」 Artificial Limb AidProgram for Vulnerable Children. With this program, they hope that, from 2016to 2018, 100 impoverished children with amputation resulting from accidents orother serious diseases would be able to stand up again, and receive freeartificial limb installation and follow-up maintenance services. Consideringthe children』s growth and development requirements, the Foundation appliesartificial limbs of an internationally renowned brand, in a way to reduce thepain. They chose the advanced products of the German brand Ossur. Only anartificial lower leg would cost 20,000 yuan, excluding follow-up maintenancefees.

On January 12, 2016 on the fourth floor of an artificiallimb factory in Beijing, Hou Bin watched Director Yang, an A-level professionalproducer, assembling and installing standard artificial limbs for two children.He could not help exclaiming with admiration in the process: 「It is such a goodfortune that the two children can have these good-quality artificial limbsinstalled by a professional person.」 The two children tried to walk around theroom with the newly installed artificial limbs excitedly. On the wall behindthem, there is a line reading, 「Every beginning can lead to a success. Dare tobegin, and you will find the way to success.」

In 2016, Hou Bin was busypreparing for the launch of the 「Shanghai Stand Up Charity Foundation.」Together with the 9958 Aid Hotline of the China Charities Aid Foundation forChildren and Beijing Reha International Orthopaedic Trade Co. Ltd., Houlaunched the 「Stand Up」 Artificial Limb Aid Program for Vulnerable Children.With this program, they hope that, from 2016 to 2018, 100 impoverished childrenwith amputation resulting from accidents or other serious diseases would be ableto stand up again.

After the Beijing 2022Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee Press Conference, Hou Bin was interviewed bythe journalists.

After the Beijing 2022Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee Press Conference, Hou Bin was taking photoswith guests and journalists.

In Hou Bin』s opinion, the Chinese society gives too few opportunitiesto the physically challenged. One of his friends, a French tennis athlete withone leg amputated, though never made into top three places in the ParalympicGames, took 11 advertisements last year. In contrast, Hou Bin was rejected bythe program team of the Chinese reality TV show 「Where Are We Going, Dad?」 for「being inconvenient.」 But Hou Bin soon turned the grievance into self-mockery,「Perhaps they are afraid that I, as a physically challenged person, wouldovershadow those super stars. It can be rather embarrassing.」

In the daily life, Hou Bin is just like every ordinaryperson. He even retains some innocence and child-like happiness. In hisfamily』s eyes, he is an omnipotent 「Transformer」 and 「Brother Hou.」 Iinterviewed him at one o』clock in the morning, on his way from Zhangzhou to Xiamen.He seemed to be tireless. I followed him to the house of his wife』s parents,watching him bustling around doing chores. This was no pretending in front ofthe camera at all. His father- and mother-in-law told me: 「He is even more hardworkingwhen you are not here.」 When attending programs in TV stations, he nevercomplains about eating box lunches as the others, 「I am just a common person, notto mention the past days when I have nothing.」

On March 15, Hou Bin, celebrating his 40th birthday, saidthat he did not have doubts anymore, 「Never belittle yourself, for everyone hasinfinite possibilities.」

Hou Bin was taking part inthe pacemaker event of the Wuzhong (Suzhou) 「Around Taihu」 International RaceWalking and Walking Multi-Day Competition. Under his appeal, the participantswere all in high spirits.

(Acknowledgement: Part of the contents are provided byFeng Huan.)