The Beijing Winter Olympics are getting closer and closer, and the names of players from all over the world have been announced.
In the freestyle skiing snow skills event, a 17-year-old Chinese girl will represent the United States, her name is Kai Owens.
Her life has also become a hot spot in media reports.
Born in Lu'an, Anhui Province, China, he was adopted by American parents and returned to China for the First Time to participate in the Winter Olympics.
Anhui Shangbao, a local media in Anhui, also reported her life:
Born 17 years ago in Lu'an, Anhui Province, China, she was abandoned by her parents in front of the government of Shizigang Township in Yu'an District, and then sent to a welfare home.
The welfare home gave the girl a Chinese name —
Lu Shiqi.
16 months later, Lu Shiqi was adopted by her parents in the United States, changed her name to Kai Owens, and has lived in the United States ever since.
Owens was in good health and did not have any congenital diseases.
Maybe it's because she's poor, maybe it's just because she's a girl, and the reason for her abandonment is unknown.
Fortunately, lucky Owens met her American parents, living in a big family full of happiness, and never made her feel lonely.
Owens' parents were middle-class, his father was a dentist and his mother was a designer, both ski enthusiasts.
The couple loved Chinese culture so much that they had raised two children before Owens arrived.
Probably because of her parents, Owens is very passionate about skiing, and at the age of ten, she skied far beyond her parents.
Since then, Owens' mother has been fully developing her child's skiing talent and has begun to participate in various ski competitions.
At the age of 14, Owens won the NorAm Grand Prix, becoming the youngest player in the award.
At the age of 16, he entered the U.S. national team.
At the 2020-2021 Freestyle Skiing World Cup, Owens was named the best rookie in the Women's Grand Prix, with the opportunity to stand at the same level as American skiers Jonny Moseley, Jeremy Bloom and Hannah Kearney.
In 2022, she will represent the United States in the Freestyle Skiing Snow Skills Program at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"When my snowboards hit the snow in China, it's going to be a very special moment for me because I can ski at the Olympics in the country where I was born, and it's exciting to think about."
But years ago, Owens had been very resistant to finding her biological parents, and she didn't understand why she was abandoned, why? Why should they abandon themselves?
She refused to accept everything about China and her birth parents.
With the constant encouragement of her adoptive parents, Owens received gifts about China, and her American parents gave her a jade pendant.
And told Owens that her name "kai" means "triumph" in Chinese.
Anhui Business Daily recently published the news that Kai hopes to use the Beijing Winter Olympics to find her biological parents, hoping that her biological parents will be able to see her game and let them know that everything is fine.
For her, life in the moment is the best.
It is worth mentioning that -
Entering the Winter Olympics in 1992, the Snow Skills event is highly enjoyable as skating and turning on the snow trails covered with small snowy hills while completing the jumping and vacating posture.
Owens is one of the strong contenders for gold medals in this year's event.
In the women's 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics last year, Canada's McNeil won the women's 100m butterfly championship by beating Chinese athlete Zhang Yufei by a slight advantage of 0.05 seconds, winning the first gold medal for Canada at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
And her identity has become a focal point.
On July 22, 2019, in the women's 100m butterfly final of the World Championships in South Korea, a little girl with an Asian face broke the world record and won the gold medal at the Swimming World Championships.
The Chinese-Canadian athlete, Maggie MacNeil, is from the University of Michigan swim team.
McNeill, whose full name is Margaret McNeill, was born on February 26, 2000 in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China, and is a post-00s. Abandoned by his Chinese parents, he was adopted by a Canadian family.
Li Xia, 30 years old this year, was born in Zhejiang in 1992 for no known reasons to be abandoned.
Later, Li Xia was adopted by a family in Minnesota, USA.
After arriving in the United States, his adoptive parents gave him a name as beautiful as Li Xia: Rose Alleva.
Her adoptive father is a physical education teacher, her adoptive mother is a real estate agent, and she has two older brothers in this family.
Minnesota is a famous hockey destination in the United States, and his brother is also an ice hockey fan, so his adoptive father built an ice hockey rink for the brothers and sisters in his backyard.
(Li Xia and adoptive mother)
Over time, Li Xia's ice hockey skills have become more and more skilled.
Li Xia, who was a hockey varsity hockey team in high school, was also drafted by the school's women's ice hockey team after being admitted to Princeton and became a college star.
In 2017, by chance, Li Xia learned that China was forming an ice hockey club.
At that time, Li Xia resolutely gave up the opportunity to continue her studies in Princeton and decided to return to China to "play for China".
Not only that, but she will also represent China at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Pan Tiantian, who was also born in 1992, was also abandoned after birth.
On Thanksgiving last year, Pan Tiantian, an abandoned baby girl adopted by an American family, returned to China, gave a hug to her aunt who had taken care of her welfare home, and said to her: Thank you.
At that time, she had already graduated from Harvard University. Although she didn't find her biological parents, she wanted to find them, see what they looked like, and say thank you to them.
In 1992, the newborn Pan Tiantian was picked up in Yangzhou Zhuyiwan Park and sent to the Yangzhou Welfare Institute for adoption as an abandoned baby because she could not find her biological parents.
Two years later, Pan Tiantian was adopted by an American woman. In 2012, she was admitted to the political science department of Harvard University.
Two years after graduating from Harvard, Pan Tiantian returned to China with the support of her adoptive mother and came to Yangzhou to find relatives.
She once said: "I must be outstanding, let my parents in China know that I am doing well, let them rest assured." ”
In October 2017, at the Doha Gymnastics World Championships, Morgan Hurd, a 17-year-old youngster on the U.S. women's gymnastics team, quickly attracted the attention of the international media for his outstanding performance.
Morgan, a former abandoned baby, was adopted by a family from Delaware at the age of two in Guangxi.
In 2014, at the age of 13, Morgan was named the 2008 Beijing Olympic women's all-around champion Nasty. In the gymnastics competition named after Liujin, the "Liujin Cup" reached the professional level 10.
Two years later, she successfully entered the "Adult International Elite Level".
In 2017, at just 16 years old, Morgan made his world championship debut and won the gold medal in the women's all-around with 55.232 points.
Over the years, many abandoned babies in China have been adopted by American families.
Whenever there are reports of similar search for relatives, everyone first condemns the parents who abandoned their children in the first place, and then laments that since they have already lived well abroad, why should they come back to find the people who abandoned themselves in the first place.
In fact, in addition to the cultural differences between China and the West, many people will think about where they came from, wonder where they were born, and what the people who bring their lives look like.
In short, we still do not have the right to judge anyone from the moral high ground. At that time, no one knew what these parents were abandoning their children for.
In January 2019, a 24-year-old American girl, Joy Jones, who had been abandoned by her Chinese parents, searched for her birth parents through a television program.
When the two sides answered the video call, Chinese parents cried with guilt and said sorry over and over again.
"My daughter is sorry, I'm really sorry to throw you away at such a young age."
But Joey at the end of the video instead said, "No thanks!" I really appreciate it, and that's a good thing. ”
Image source: Surging video
When her father found out her birth certificate and told her the real date of birth, she said it was incredible: "It's amazing! Thanks, it was the best gift for my birthday. ”
Growing up, Joey was curious about his origins. Because of her completely different appearance from her parents, she clearly knows that she is not the biological daughter of her parents.
To find relatives and roots, just to know where you came from and to say thank you to the person who gave you life.
Some people say that if these girls had not been abandoned by their biological parents, they might not have had such a wonderful life as they are today.
If they had been raised in the family they could not afford or did not want to raise, they might have been one of the thousands of ordinary girls in the country.
But there are no ifs in life, and there are not so many possibilities.
Even if there were any ifs and possibilities, it was based on the premise that she was born into the world smoothly as an independent life.
No one can assert for these girls what kind of life they should have.
Because even if it is the same thing, some people see abandonment, and some people see it, it is giving.