On the morning of January 25, 2021, Gong Xiufeng joined his colleagues at the Barrier-free Services Coordination Office of the Paralympic Games Integration Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games for a discussion on the risk management list concerning the venue of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which ended with a handful of notes scribbled down on a notebook. As an adaptive athlete with multiple championships under his belt and now a member of the organizing team for the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, Gong Xiufeng has had a colorful life thanks to the sports for the disabled.

Gong Xiufeng at the Paralympic Games Integration Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, [Photo by Li Shenglan] 

Gong Xiufeng was born in July 1975 in a rural family in the Erbozi Village, Sanbozi Town, Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, Qinhuangdao, Hebei. He lost his left hand in an accident in 1989. Being good at sports, he managed to become a PE supply teacher in Sanbozi Middle School after recovery, a job that brought hope to Gong Xiufeng and his family like the first signs of the dawn. 

In the spring of 1995, the Qinhuangdao Disabled Persons' Federation started recruiting adaptive athletes for the third games for people with disabilities in Hebei province. The excitement upon receiving recruitment notice kept Gong Xiufeng up all night. After several rounds of different tests, he was finally selected for the track and field team as he'd hoped. In the May of that year, he won the first prize in both shot put and javelin competitions at the third games for people with disabilities in Hebei province. His outstanding performance strengthened his confidence to fulfill his self value through the sports for the disabled. From then on, a new spectacle of life unfolded before him. 

In September 2003, he got the shot put champion at the Sixth National Games of Disabled Persons held in Nanjing. He was later recruited to the national team and attended numerous competitions both at home and abroad. At the Athens Paralympic Games in September 2004, he broke the world record of the F46 put shot competition with a toss of 14.31 meters. Furthermore, he also got multiple championships at national and world tournaments for persons with disabilities, national games for persons with disabilities, and Asian games for persons with disabilities. Gong Xiufeng says that despite the huge blow brought by the physical disability, all the difficulties can be solved as long as one finds goals and directions to fulfill self value. "I'm not quite excellent, but I take pride in my own efforts. Sports for the disabled have changed my life," he added. 

Gong Xiufeng has retired from profession sports as he got older, and is now dedicated to the organization of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. He is currently responsible for the implementation of the regulations and demands of the guide to barrier-free services for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games, so as to facilitate the design and construction of barrier-free facilities in the venue of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, and to improve the barrier-free service of the hosting city. Gong Xiufeng recalls the generous help he received from coaching teams and competition organizers when he was an athlete, and looks forward, as an organizer of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, to providing quality services for athletes and excellent barrier-free facilities for all parties, and creating a safe, equal and inclusive barrier-free environment with joint efforts.