01
"Looking for a job for my daughter
I changed her age by three years."
This is the story of a gymnastics national hand immigrating to New Zealand, and it is also the story of a tenacious woman who faces setbacks and grievances alone and finally obtains "redemption".
Her name is Dong Fangxiao, you may not be familiar with this name, she entered the national team in 1996, won two national championships, once an Olympic team bronze medal, was once the flag figure of Hebei Gymnastics, known as the "Oriental Spirit Deer". After retiring from the army, she could have entered the Hebei gymnastics team to get a job of formal preparation, but because of an "accident", it changed her life.
It all started in 2002.
That year, Dong Fangxiao was found to have necrosis of the femoral head, his condition reached an advanced stage, he had to undergo surgery, his career was completely reimbursed, and the operation left sequelae, one foot high and one foot low, and could not be cured for life.
She was bedridden for a long time, although the medical expenses were given by the gymnastics center, but for many years as an athlete only had a monthly salary of 1100 yuan, her parents had no income, and the family was still crowded in a small house of more than 40 square meters.
The former "Oriental Spirit Deer" was consumed by long-term illness and embarrassment, and his eyes were full of confusion about the future.
Dong Fangxiao's mother heard that her daughter's illness was probably going to be bedridden for two or three years, and it would not be easy to find a job when she was older, so it was better to change her age to a little younger. So her mother ran to the police station to change the age of Dong Fangxiao's hukou and ID card to three years younger. She was born in 1983 and has since become 1986.
However, Dong Fangxiao, who changed his age, did not find a job smoothly.
Huang Jian, the director of the Hebei Gymnastics Center who had originally recommended her to return, died in a car accident, and Dong Fangxiao's desire to enter the formal establishment was also disappointed. Everyone said that they did not know that Director Huang Jian had such an arrangement before his death, and the formal establishment should not be thought of, but the temporary workers could do it.
As a result, Dong Fangxiao had to work as a temporary worker, and her salary and benefits were far from the formal establishment.
But "bad luck" has not let Dong Fangxiao go, this time, not only the work is not smooth, but the biggest setback to her entire life.
In 2008, the International Olympic Committee found that Dong Fangxiao's age changed from 1983 to 1986, then, when she was only 14 years old at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, according to regulations, only athletes over 16 years old were eligible to participate in the competition, and Dong Fangxiao was suspected of "age fraud".
As a result, Dong Fangxiao's bronze medal at the Sydney Olympic Games was withdrawn, and a series of achievements she had previously made in the international arena were also invalidated, and the proudest honor of her life at that time became the shame of her life overnight.
After this incident, Dong Fangxiao was not embarrassed to continue to work as a temporary worker in the gymnastics center, because this was not only her personal shame, but also the teammates who won the team bronze medal with her were also withdrawn.
02
"Changing her age is an act of herself and her family"
The most regrettable is Dong Fangxiao's mother.
In order for her daughter to find a job more smoothly, she changed her daughter to three years younger, you know, age does not mean that it can be changed, her mother is afraid that she also found an acquaintance, and it took a lot of trouble to change her daughter's age.
But how do you explain such "characteristic national conditions" to the people of the International Olympic Committee? People will not understand: a gymnast, after retiring from the army, need to change the age to find a job?
After the incident came out, Luo Chaoyi, director of the gymnastics center, said: "Dong Fangxiao's age was changed to three years younger after retiring from the army, which should be her personal and family behavior."
Speaking of retirement, it is also a history of blood and tears.
Dong Fangxiao retired in 2001 due to injury due to necrosis of the femoral head.
At the current medical level, the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head is staged, the first and second stages can be treated and recovered, and the third and fourth stages cannot be cured, and when Dong Fangxiao went to the hospital, he was already in the fourth stage of osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
During her previous training, she already felt pain in her crotch, but in November 2001, in order to represent Hebei in the National Games, she played a closed needle and won the team championship and the free gymnastics championship.
That year, Dong Fangxiao's career was at its peak, and within a year, she won five gold medals at the East Asian Games, two gold medals at the University Games, and two gold medals at the National Games.
But it is the long-term high-intensity training and non-stop participation in the competition that makes Dong Fangxiao physically and mentally exhausted, but in the face of the results, she even if she is injured, she has to play closed, resulting in serious injuries that are difficult to heal.
Of course, doing so is only the behavior and choice of Dong Fangxiao and her family...
03
Three more years of shame
One person carrying
Dong Fangxiao's life suddenly added three years, which sounded absurd at first, but after a long time, no one cared.
After all, the Chinese team has won enough Olympic gold medals, and the news of an Olympic bronze medalist will not last long.
Dong Fangxiao, who lost his medals, honors, and even the job of a temporary worker, chose to face it strongly and carry the extra shame for three years alone.
She applied for a 30-month New Zealand work visa and went to a gymnastics club in New Zealand to teach gymnastics for children.
In New Zealand, she resumed her gymnastics career and her own life, and also found her other half, Terry, a New Zealander. After she and Terry married, she began applying for a New Zealand PR, or permanent residence card. Because the application for a PR requires the provision of truthful information, if the information about age is false, it is likely that it will not pass and you will be deported.
Fortunately, her husband and her New Zealand colleagues chose to believe in and support her, and she finally got her New Zealand permanent residence card as she wished, this time, she chose a new life.
Dong Fangxiao's New Zealand immigration road is a choice that is forced to be helpless. Would she have left her country without those "accidents" in her life?
She was born from a peasant family, learned gymnastics at the age of 3, suffered from the unbearable suffering of her peers, obeyed the coach from a young age, obeyed the organization, trained hard, in order to one day win gold and silver in the international arena and win glory for the country, but the result was that the medal could only give a temporary glory, and even could not find a good job for her.
After she became famous, as soon as the provincial team was called, she had to go back immediately, even at the expense of playing in a closed game, so that after she retired, she could get a job with a staff in the provincial team, but it was this plan for the "back road" that left her with a lifelong disability.
After her "age falsification" incident was discovered by the International Olympic Committee, no one stepped forward to protect her and help her, even if it was just to say a fair word for her, saying only that it was the behavior of her personal and family, and that it was the age changed after retirement.
Dong Fangxiao, who walked out of the arena, must have been very sad when he left, right?