a Paralympic table tennis star with a bear biting his hand

It was hardly a shame for Britains Josh Stacey to lose heavily to Ma Lin, who was the king of Paralympic table tennis, and achieved four golds in three games. But less impressed by the pedigree of this Chinese-born player, now representing Australia, than his hardly credible backstory. Here is an athlete who has come to dominate his class despite the bear having eaten his hand.

The mother was only five years old when, while visiting her local zoo in southeast China, acquaintance with a bear who had befriended her went badly wrong. The animal attacked him without warning and bites clean through his right hand between his elbow and shoulder and left nothing but a few tendons.

He lost so much blood that he almost died on the spot, and yet within 26 years of his life being immeasurably changed, he has been spared the bear’s guilt.

I thought he was my friend because I went to the zoo every week to feed him, Mom said in Sydney Daily Telegraph. So I just decided to reach out and applaud him, but I think he wasn’t in a good mood that day.

The mother, who remained conscious as her terrible injuries became apparent, was reflected: I think I was a little shocked. But I never cried.

His friend, a six-year-old who had come with him to the zoo, shouted for help from his parents, while a group of tourists who were witnessing the attack sent him by taxi to the hospital, knowing that there was not enough time to wait for an ambulance. Almost all the flesh and bones of his arm were gone.

His life was saved, but surgeons had to amputate his hand from his shoulder, from which he woke up with just one question. I just wanted to know if I could still have a girlfriend as a parent, he said. They said of course, so I was happy.

Although Ma had planned to develop his expertise as a classical pianist, the loss of his arm closed the way but opened a new one. Enthusiastic about the Chinese sweeping pure table tennis at the Atlanta Olympics, he decided to build his own reputation in a sport that has become an obsession for the country.

The first Paralympic gold will follow in Beijing, two in London and a fourth in Rio. But before Tokyo, Ma, with her two female compatriots, Lei Lina and Yang Qian, dramatically changed her national allegiance to Down Under, what the Australian team has described as a lifestyle decision.

Under the Australian flag, he was an equally formidable opponent here, sending Stacey 3-0. His experience was a huge factor, the Welshman said.

Ma, who plans to continue to the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, when he is 43, still has a lot of numbers to write in his survival story. From unspoken horror at the zoo to the splendor of table tennis: even for the Paralympics, it’s a story never told before.