Swimmer leaves pool for pig farm

SHANGHAI: Gong Baoren used to win gold medals in the swimming pool, now, he hopes to help disabled people in a new arena: a pig farm.

Despite losing both arms in an accident when he was 8, Gong participated in the Atlanta Paralympic Games in 1996 and won a gold medal in the men's 100m breaststroke SB7. Later he won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics and a gold and a silver at the 2004 Athens Paralympics. He was known as the "king of breaststroke without arms".

Gong retired from swimming last year. He used the money he had won to start a pig farm in the Dongling district of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province. The local government also helped to fund the farm, in an effort to support the disabled but strong-willed Gong.