Part 1: Chen Lihong’s Tragedy

Chen Lihong, a 23-year-old young triathlete from Fujian province, never watched popular sitcoms on TV, nor did she ever step in a shopping mall like a regular girl. She even seldom saw her parents, because her life　was simply composed of swimming for 5 kilometer, bicycling for 20 kilometer, and running for 10 kilometer – training day after day, year after year.

Her long-term endeavor and hard training eventually paid off when she ranked #8 in the women’s triathlon event nationally last year, which got her a place in China’s national team. Since then, she started to set her eye on a Beijing 2008 Olympic berth – the most coveted prize in sports.

All of this came to a sudden end when her bicycle helmet was hit by a car while training with her teammates on a freeway in Yunnan province – resulting in her tragic death, just because of a ruthless driver’s impulsive whim to accelerate on the gas and speed past them.　

This sort of senseless tragedy has always made my heart anguish deeply. How could a live young human being with a promising career ahead, disappear in just a split second?

There is a famous Chinese saying: “Death can be lighter than a feather or it can be heavier than Mount Tai”. Unfortunately, Chen Lihong’s death falls into the former category.