Winner in competition, winner in life

Ping Yali has appeared on national television many times, each time accompanied by her faithful guide dog, Lucky, a six-year-old golden retriever. The pair is best known as part of the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, when they participated in the lighting of the flame.

Lucky is Beijing's first trained guide dog, and the animal is often the reason Ping is invited to appear on television. But what few people realize is, Ping herself has a glorious, if unsung, past.

She is a gold medalist from the Paralympic Games in Long Island, New York.