Taiwanese star weightlifter Fang Wan-ling is set to shoulder the hopes and expectations of her country at the Olympics in Paris this summer.
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00:00 [Music]
00:09 Taiwanese Olympian Fang Wanling
00:11 can lift well over her own body weight.
00:13 She's training at a high school in southern Taiwan
00:15 ahead of the Parasum Games.
00:17 And with young athletes watching,
00:19 she's keenly aware of the example she's setting.
00:22 She's my idol.
00:23 Because I can see her from a distance
00:26 and it's really different to see an idol from a distance.
00:30 And when she's training,
00:32 it's really shocking.
00:34 [Cheering]
00:36 The summer in Paris,
00:37 it'll be more than her fellow trainees paying attention.
00:40 When Fang steps onto the lifting platform in August,
00:43 all of Taiwan will be watching.
00:45 It's a lot of pressure for someone
00:46 who never wanted to be a weightlifter.
00:48 I used to want to be a dancer.
00:52 [Music]
00:56 [Chatter]
00:58 It was a dream she gave up
01:00 for the prize money she could win by weightlifting.
01:02 Fang is a member of Taiwan's indigenous Do community.
01:06 She grew up in poverty in a single-parent household
01:08 in the mountains of Chiayi in southern Taiwan.
01:11 When her athleticism caught the attention
01:13 of strength coaches at age 13,
01:16 she pursued weightlifting to provide for her mother.
01:19 [Chatter]
01:24 I taught her how to move quickly.
01:27 She's not afraid.
01:29 She loves to challenge herself.
01:31 No matter how much you add, she'll still try.
01:34 [Chatter]
01:42 While Fang trained and her performance improved,
01:45 an injury outside the gym almost ended her career.
01:48 At age 18, just before her first Asian Games in 2018,
01:53 Fang was in a scooter accident,
01:55 which almost snapped her knee ligament.
01:57 It was a tough time.
02:00 I couldn't let go.
02:02 It was a tough decision to make.
02:07 I don't want to disappoint the people who have been waiting for me
02:10 for the past six years.
02:13 Fang continued to live through her injury,
02:16 and it took a toll on her body.
02:18 [Chatter]
02:20 I didn't have the right equipment to repair the injury.
02:25 I injured one of my legs, and the other one.
02:28 If you injure both knees, your waist will be injured.
02:32 If you injure your waist, your core will shake,
02:34 and your shoulder will be injured.
02:36 Her injuries affected her performance.
02:39 She qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games,
02:42 but took fourth place.
02:44 After that, she decided to take some time off and recover.
02:47 The gap year meant she couldn't earn prize money
02:50 and couldn't support her sick mother.
02:52 At one point, Fang almost gave up weightlifting
02:55 to take on a full-time job.
02:58 Unless I succeed,
03:03 I don't have the money to pay for my mother's hospital bills.
03:11 However, thanks to Coach Lin and financial support from the government,
03:15 she was able to start her lifting career again.
03:18 This summer, she hopes to show them
03:20 that their faith in her will be rewarded.
03:23 I'm ready to show them that I can lift.
03:26 I want to make my body and my heart stronger.
03:31 I want to show them that I can lift.
03:39 (LIFTING HER HEART)
03:42 (LIFTING HER HEART)
03:45 (LIFTING HER HEART)
03:48 With just a few months left before the Summer Olympics,
03:51 Fang is training relentlessly.
03:53 When she grabs the bar, clenches, then explodes in Paris,
03:57 she'll be shouldering the expectations of the country and her fans.
04:01 Hao Zhang, Leslie Liao and Sani Qi for Taun Plus.
04:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]