Profile: In 1988, Rong Jing was born to an ordinary peasant family in Huachong Town, Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province.

She suffered from polio in her right leg, which brought inconvenience to her movement. She is currently studying at Lianyungang RTVU, a branch of the Study Centre of the OUC School for the Disabled. She is one of the Chinese wheelchair fencers. Her specialties lie in epee and foil. She once won the gold medal in women's epee team in the 2012 London Paralympics. Since 2015, she has participated in 7 international competitions and has won a total of 6 gold medals. She won the national May 1 labour medal, the China Youth "May 4th" medal, and many honourable titles such as national "Mar. 8" red-banner holder, provincial “Mar. 8” red-banner holder etc.

The opening ceremony of the Rio Paralympics was held on September 7, 2016. As the flag-bearer for the Chinese delegation, one of the wheelchair fencing athletes, a student of Lianyungang RTVU, Rong Jing was the first Chinese athlete to step into the site of the opening ceremony of Rio Paralympics, with a bright and proud smile on her face.

Rong Jing first joined the wheelchair fencing team of Jiangsu province in 2004, officially becoming a professional athlete and starting her wheelchair fencing career. "In fact, I was reluctant to practice wheelchair fencing, because I was not familiar with it. My parents encouraged me to have a try, and so I did, and persisted in it till now," Rong Jing recalled.

From her hometown Shuyang to the provincial capital Nanjing she has to travel more than 6 hours before she can begin her strict training. When she was a child, before beginning her training, she could not even carry a sword. She said, "My shoulder couldn't bear it after holding the sword for only a few minutes." Sometimes, she did not do well in practising the technical movements. She was so desperate to excel in her work that she would secretly cry at night in her bed. However, she was determined to continue working hard to improve.

"During my first few days' training with the provincial sports team, my hands were full of blisters due to the strenuous practice." As time went by, the blisters become thick calluses. Now my hands are full of thick calluses, hard bumps." As for her regular training, Rong Jing said the most difficult time for training is the summer. Wearing over 5 kilograms of gear consisting of protective clothing, helmet, and her sword, she trains for five to six hours, or even longer, each day. She says that she feels as if she is in a food steamer, all while repeating each movement thousands of times. Despite the hard training, she chose to stick to it. "I always encouraged myself and said to myself, 'stick to it, you can do it!'" Rong Jing said that the time has flown by, and in a blink of the eye a few years have passed, and she has endured. She added, "I believe that, as a youth, as long as you have a goal and move forward with strong determination, you are bound to be successful no matter how hard your journey is."

In addition, her optimistic personality is one of the important factors that drives her to move ahead. "When I was young, my schoolmates and teachers gave me much care and concern, which made me optimistic and full of sunshine. They gave me much positive energy and helped me realize that I could do just as much as other ordinary students can do. Even now, I still believe this to be so. I can climb a mountain, I can travel to see the world. It is really good."

As her calluses continue to thicken, the career honours of this athlete are also increasing. Over the last two years, in the highly competitive fencing field, Rong Jing has participated in 7 competitions, and made it to the highest step of the podium and won medals on behalf of China 6 times. At the 2012 London Olympics, she and her teammates won a gold medal in the women's epee team competition. 

When being informed that she had been chosen to be the flag-bearer for the Chinese Paralympics delegation at the opening ceremony, Rong Jing said, "I feel proud and consider it a sacred responsibility. I'm lucky and I'm just one of millions of people with disabilities or disabled athletes. Like them, I have an optimistic attitude towards life!"

Chairwoman of China Disabled Persons' Federation, team leader of Rio Paralympics Chinese sports team delegation, and president of China Paralympics Committee Zhang Haidi said, "This year, we are going to choose an excellent female athlete to be the flag bearer. Rong Jing, who was the fencing champion in the London 2012 Paralympics, was chosen to be the one. Her temperament and image, I believe, can fully reflect the temperament and spirit of the Chinese Paralympic athletes."

In Rio, she took part in individual foil, team foil, and epee team games beginning on Sep. 14th. She was satisfied with the conditions in Rio, "The sites and facilities are well maintained, and we have fully devoted ourselves to the games."

London 2012 Paralympic Games. Rong Jing (left), Wu Baili (middle), and Yao Fang (right), won the women's epee team wheelchair fencing championship at the London Paralympics.

By OUC integrating resources from Xinhua News Agency, Nanguo Morning Post, NetEase etc.