In the recently concluded 2016 Rio Paralympics, 11 current students of OUC Study Centre for the Disabled (Lianyungang RTVU) won 11 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals, crowning their remarkable achievements.
The number of gold medals earned accounted for 10% of China's total medals (107). This figure accounts for nearly 50% of the total medals earned by Jiangsu province team, and Lianyungang RTVU became a veritable "cradle of champions".
The 11 students were from Class of 2014 and 2015, majoring in Social Work. At the Rio Paralympics, they competed in fencing, table tennis, track and field, and other games at multiple levels. They are Zou Lijuan, Zhang Bian, Rong Jing, Cao Ningning, Sun Gang, Li Qian, Gu Gai, Yan Shuo, Tian Jianquan, Zhang Cuichun, and Lu Liang. Rong Jing, as the flag-bearer of the Chinese delegation at the opening ceremony, has won 3 gold medals for women's wheelchair foil A level, women's wheelchair epee team, and women's wheelchair foil team. Other athletes who won gold medals include Zhang Chuncui, Sun Gang, Zou Lijuan, Zhang Bian, Gu Gai, Li Qian, and Cao Ningning. The athletes who won silver medals include Li Qian, Gu Gai, Tian Jianquan, and Sun Gang. The athletes who won bronze medals include Yan Shuo, Tian Jianquan, and Sun Gang. In addition, Zhang Chuncui ranked 4th in women's foil A level; Lu Liang ranked 5th in women's individual archery W1 level.
With the support of the provincial and municipal disabled persons' federations, as well as the OUC, Lianyungang RTVU established OUC Study Centre for the Disabled in 2010. Since then, it has begun to open up opportunities for higher education for the disabled, enrolling its first students in that year. So far, it has enrolled five classes of students. In 2014 and 2015, the provincial disabled persons' federation sent the disabled athletes to the school to pursue further study.
These students had training at Nanjing Dingshan Sports Centre. From 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm each day, they pursue their Social Work studies through distance education. It is not easy for them to do so on a daily basis. In Rio, the players slept on a single bed, with a mosquito net covering them. Their luggage was placed on the ground. While at the game site, they overcame their physical discomfort and any difficulties in order to give their very best.
Integrated reports by the OUC