Paralympic Games: Rim Ju Song, North Korea’s first and only Paralympic athlete

The country’s sole competitor is a 16-year-old swimmer whose training only began in April. Yet his participation offers inspiration to others involved in North Korea’s nascent disabled sports programmes, says Li Pun Hui, a former table tennis star who has become her country’s leading advocate for disabled athletes.

“Healthy or disabled, if you have the will to succeed, there is no obstacle in your way,” Li said.

Earlier this year, Li’s work helped gain North Korea provisional membership in the International Paralympic Committee. But the clearance to participate came too late to qualify for most events. The exception was swimming. Rim Ju Song, who actually lives in Beijing and lost an arm and leg in a construction accident, became his country’s only hope. The problem: He couldn’t really swim.

The first training session was a disaster. He sank “like a rock,” recalled Kim Sung Chol of the North Korean Paralympic Committee. Nevertheless, he soon learned the crawl stroke and in May, Rim and his coaches boarded a plane for Berlin and his first international competition. Only upon arrival did the North Koreans learn that Rim would need a second stroke to compete. He spent the next two weeks learning the breaststroke. Rim finished last in one event and was disqualified in the other, but that was good enough for a wild card slot in the Paralympics, where on 4 September he’ll compete in the 50-metre freestyle.

His performance will be watched closely back in North Korea, where sports play a major role in life. From an early age, promising athletes are plucked for rigorous training, and those who win medals at international tournaments are welcomed home as heroes. One of those heroes was Li, who became her country’s darling after teaming up with a South Korean player in 1991 to beat the seemingly  indomitable Chinese and win the team gold at the World Table Tennis Championships.

It was the first time players from the two vying Koreas competed together. After her career ended and her now-15-year-old son was born with cerebral palsy, Li dedicated her life to bringing the disabled out of  the shadows and on to the  playing fields.