Feature: Giant in pool and life

HORRENDOUS ACCIDENT

He was almost killed in a morning of 1981 when the three-year-old boy climbed onto an electricity pole and touched the power transformer out of curiosity.

When he woke up, He found he was lying in the hospital surrounded by his parents and relatives.

"Dad, where are my arms? where are they?" He cried. His father didn't know how to comfort his son, shedding tears and sighing. "Son, you were hit by a jolt of electricity. If you don't move, your arms will grow soon."

Discharged from the hospital, He became very emotional. When his parents fed him with a spoon, He refused and fed himself by burying his head to the food.

In primary school, He sat in the back of classroom and learned to write with feet. When his classmates laughed at him, He head-butted or kicked at them. Once he kicked a boy who tried bully him to the pond.

In order to fend off teasing to his son, He's father dropped him off school and taught him to feed the ducks. He enjoyed these days very much. He could play with friends and swim in the pond.

In 1995, a sports official with the disabled-person association spotted He's swimming talent and put him on the Hubei team in central China.

Five years later, he made a Paralympic debut in Sydney, grabbing a set of medals.