Sports Medicine Master System

Chapter 347 - 289: Who Is Your Idol (2)

Su Jun stared intently at the girl, a hidden fire of rage burning in his eyes.

In the cramped room, there were only two pieces of worn-out furniture.

On the heated brick bed, Guo Yanping slowly took off her shoes, revealing her severely deformed feet.

Su Jun, as well as the police officers present, all gasped.

They were feet that were completely twisted, with several toes overlapping, and severe bunions.

They looked almost like the feet of a monster.

Su Jun pressed the camera’s shutter, capturing the scene.

"I was a really good runner when I was little. When I was nine, I took second place at the city games. The people running with me were all taller and older than me, but they just couldn’t outrun me."

"Later, my gym teacher sent me to the Qilihe Sports School. After just one year, they wanted to send me to an even better sports school. My dad sold our house in the village just to scrape together enough for my tuition. That day, after he paid the fees, he bought me two sesame seed buns at the school gate, told me to train hard, and then he left."

"Then in ’95, a coach scouted me and brought me onto the National Team. Back then, we trained in a rundown railway sanatorium at Shanhai Pass. It was completely sealed off. There were wolfdogs on guard, and none of us could go out. We couldn’t even call or write letters to our families."

Su Jun, who had sat down across from her, adjusted the camera angle to focus on Guo Yanping’s vacant gaze.

"Training was incredibly hard back then. Sometimes we’d get up at four in the morning and start with a 40-kilometer run. During intense training periods, they’d double it. Only after we finished running could we come back to eat. There wasn’t much to eat, just steamed buns, pickled vegetables, and eggs. After eating, we’d go right back to running—dozens of 400-meter and 800-meter sprints."

The middle-aged couple beside them had already started to sob, covering their faces.

The seated police officer silently lit a cigarette, his brow furrowed as he listened.

"I really didn’t want to train anymore, but the other girls on the team all said, ’Just keep at it. We’re all country kids, not cut out for school. If we don’t do well at this, what else can we do? At least they feed us and give us a place to live here, and we might get a job assigned to us later.’ I was young back then, so I just had to endure it and keep training."

"Anyway, I remember my feet started giving out the second year. Before a competition, they hurt so much I couldn’t even stand. The coach would just give me cortisone shots. Later, the soles of my feet were rotting, but I didn’t dare say anything. I was afraid the coach would yell at me and call me useless. He had a bad temper and always hit us. One time, he beat Sister Sun, who was two years older than me, and broke her bones."

Su Jun silently clenched his fists. His nose tingled, and he asked through gritted teeth, "What about later? After you started getting results, did things get any better? I saw in the files that you won a lot of medals."

"Sixteen medals in total, I think."

Guo Yanping gave a bitter smile and shook her head. "I never felt it was that great. It was just constant training, then competitions. Eventually, I won second place in an international marathon. That was my best achievement."

"And then, my feet gave out. I couldn’t run anymore. Last year, the coach told me to go home and get treatment, but they couldn’t fix it. He told me to retire, gave me a few hundred yuan, and sent me home. But I didn’t want to! Since ’95, my monthly salary and all my prize money from competitions, he held onto all of it. I don’t even know how much money there was."

"When I went to find him after the New Year, he beat me up again. Then he said he’d arrange a job for me. And what was the job? He assigned me to stoke boilers for the railway. I can’t even stand up, and he wants me to stoke boilers?"

"My thoughts?"

In a spacious room, Guo Yanping sat in a wheelchair behind a podium, staring blankly at the reporters in front of her.

Camera flashes went off one after another, and the endless CLICK-CLICK-CLICK of shutters filled the air.

After a long moment, Guo Yanping finally spoke. "I sometimes think that if I could live my life over again, I would never, ever take up running. It was just too hard."

She looked out at the crowd and forced a smile.

Beside her, a serious-faced Su Jun cleared his throat and took over. "What I want to say is that situations like Guo Yanping’s are not isolated incidents. For example, let me mention someone else."

"Zhou Chunlan." Su Jun held up one finger, his expression grave. "She once won three consecutive gold medals and broke world records. She was our country’s best weightlifter. But after she retired in ’93, who ever heard her name again?"

"Not long ago, when my colleague found her, she had just left the sports brigade and was working in a bathhouse, scrubbing people’s backs."

"If that’s not enough, I’ll give you another one: Cai Li."

"How many of my fellow journalists here even remember him? In his career, he won more than 60 championships and was known as Asia’s Strongest Man. But after retiring, due to problems with his job assignment, he’s now working as a security guard at the local sports brigade. Most importantly, the injuries accumulated from training have left him plagued with illnesses. To pay for treatment, his family is destitute."

"Returning to the cases we previously covered—Liu Yudong and Hu Weidong competing while injured—we truly hope that through these stories, we can draw everyone’s attention to this issue and hopefully bring about some change."

「Phoenix.」

Chen Yu closed his laptop. He replayed the video he had just watched in his mind, his feelings a complicated mix.

Looking up at Su Jun, who was sitting across from him, Chen Yu thought for a moment and asked, "So, has there been any change?"

Su Jun nodded. "Yes, things have gotten a little better."

A smile appeared on his face. "We helped Guo Yanping find a lawyer, and we’re in the process of suing her coach. We also found a doctor for her to see if her feet can be treated. As for the others, our reports have brought them widespread attention, and people are now willing to help solve the problems they’re facing."