Wang Liping, an ethnic Manchu, representing China, became an Olympic champion by winning the 20-kilometer event.
This race was full of twists and turns.
The second Wang Liping first showed up in the stadium first, over 110,000 people sat there in the stadium in shock, as she took her first place and won her gold medal.
No one could imagine that such a moment deserving of a celebration would soon become so awkward, yet sad.
After Wang Liping got first place, she excitedly cheered at the audience with her arms in the air, but the entire stadium was dead silent. The audience is all filled with disbelief as if they do not know what just happened. Who is this Asian woman? How on earth is she first? Where is our Australian Olympian? Only a translator near the edge of the field gave this woman a hug.
The entire stadium only had this one Chinese person, and there wasn't even a Chinese flag found. She looked around anxiously from left to right, but still couldn't find a single Chinese flag and could only hold back her tears.
Instead of proudly wearing her country's flag cape around the stadium and receiving applause for all her hard work.
She awkwardly walked around the stadium with empty hands
For years she said she couldn't get herself to watch the video of her winning the Olympics because every time she sees it, makes her want to cry. She dedicated all her life, and even put her health on the line for this result. It became one of her biggest sorrow and regret.
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@pancakeslam LMAOOO, you forgot the woman in the hijab! She's Asian also! actually, that white man in the suit might also be her family you know... just maybe 100 generations removed. but hey, surely that counts too! 🙃
@Miyue I can sympathize with the poor woman but nobody really needs to win a gold medal. and receive cheering. its an honor but not a necessary component of life.
@pancakeslam In a sense, you are right. She won't die from this. But as someone who's seen firsthand what these athletes go through in order to get there, what their life becomes if they fail, and all the sacrifices they've made. I think each and every athlete, gold or not (but even more, if one does get gold because, in a way, they've reached their "ultimate goal") deserves some sort of celebration or acknowledgment.
In her case, she grew up poor and practiced so hard to the point that she became physically disabled multiple times. (and eventually, at age 30, she was forced to permanently quit due to all her injuries) She has stomach problems, so every time she practices, she would be throwing up, to the point where her throw-up only contains yellow bile.
Being an athlete is really harsh, the reality is unless you get gold, you won't be getting any sponsorships or anything after a couple of years. You will end up getting jobs that pay the bare minimum wage.
And also, that year, China actually had 3 female athletes in this race (including her). What happened was, the coach literally cleaned up and left her there all alone in the middle of the race after seeing that his 2 other athletes were done for. She was kind of a "spare", and no one, including her own coach, thought that she would've won.
Like, adding all this together, I really can't imagine how that would've felt.
