Beijing Olympics Hidden Sacrificial Lamb -- Olympic dancer is injured in
rehearsal for opening ceremonies

International Herald Tribune

Olympic dancer is injured in rehearsal for opening ceremonies

By David Barboza

Thursday, August 14, 2008

BEIJING: A 26-year-old Chinese dancer was seriously injured during a
rehearsal for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games just 12 days
before the show, and is facing the prospect of being paralyzed for the
rest of her life.

Liu Yan, considered one of the country's top classical Chinese dancers,
was preparing for the performance of a lifetime: the only solo dance in
a four-hour-long spectacular that was expected to be seen by a global
audience of hundreds of millions of people.

But on July 27, during an evening rehearsal at the National Stadium
here, she leaped toward a platform that malfunctioned and plunged about
three meters, or 10 feet, into a shaft, landing on her back, family
members said.

She was rushed to a military hospital and underwent six hours of
surgery, but she suffered nerve and spinal damage.

Her head was not badly injured and she now can move her arms. But she
has no feeling below her chest, she said in a hospital bed interview
Wednesday, and she cannot move her lower body, including her legs.

Doctors have told her family that it is unlikely that she will ever walk
again.

In the interview, Liu was teary eyed and said she was still in disbelief
about the accident. "I never imagined I could suffer such a tragedy,"
she said.

The organizers of the opening ceremonies initially asked witnesses and
friends not to disclose the accident before the opening of the Games on
Aug. 8, said people who have visited Liu in the hospital.

But this week members of the Beijing Olympic Committee visited Liu and
announced that they would soon hold a news conference.

For the most part, the Chinese state-run media have not reported the
accident, although People's Daily, the Communist Party's official organ,
mentioned it in a small article on Tuesday.

Zhang Yimou, the show's artistic director and one of China's leading
film directors, expressed sadness and regret after visiting Liu in her
hospital room on Monday.

"I feel sorry for Liu Yan, my heart is full of regrets," he said in an
interview. "I'm deeply sorry. Liu Yan is a heroine. She sacrificed a lot
for the Olympics, for me, for the opening ceremony."

In an earlier interview with the Chinese media, after his direction of
the opening ceremonies won high praise from viewers around the world,
Zhang said that he was pleased with the show, but that there were some
serious problems in rehearsals for an exhibition that involved more than
15,000 performers.

"I regret many things, many details of this performance, many things I
could have done better," he said in the interview. "For example, there
are performers who were injured. I blame myself for that. It might well
have been avoided if I had given more detailed instructions."

Liu's husband and friends now are trying to find a specialist to help
determine whether she can regain the ability to walk.

A graduate of the Beijing Dance Academy, Liu was widely considered one
of the country's leading classical dancers.

Dance experts have called her movements incredibly fluid and said her
beauty radiated from the stage.

She has won most of the top dance and drama awards in China, including
the Lotus Cup. She also performed last year at the Chinese New Year's
Eve Gala, which is televised nationally and includes some of the
country's most famous singers, dancers and actors.

Liu, the only child of a judge and a doctor, grew up in northern China
and entered the middle school of the Beijing Dance Academy when she was 11.

Her planned performance in the opening ceremonies, "The Silk Road," was
the only solo dance in a show that was rich in traditional imagery and
synchronized performances. Another dancer took her place.

Liu said it was a dream that she could be chosen for such a role.

She said Wednesday that she was hoping for a miracle, so that she might
some day walk again.

"I hope one day I can just stand up like a normal person," she said
wiping away tears.

Chen Yang contributed research.

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