Yao Ming

the year of Yao (baike.baidu.com (wallb.com))

My hero in my heart is Yao Ming, one of China's most recognizable athletes, along with Liu Xiang. I have been admiring him and paying close attention to him since I was a little boy who was crazy about playing basketball. The first time I noticed him in an International basketball game, he played so well that I couldn't help loving him. Since then, I have been fascinated by his great skills.

Yao was born in Shanghai in 1980 and began to play basketball when he was only 9 years old. He won the first prize of the teenage basketball competition in 1997 and was on the National Basketball Team one year later. He became the leader of the team and eventually led the team to win the runner-up of the Asian championship. He participated in NBA in 2002. He joined the Houston Rocket team, which he was playing for until he retired. At first, everyone thought he was a newbie just because he was a Chinese player but he showed his great skills and his personal ability and gradually he became the most significant figure on the team because of his height and skills and even became the symbol of the Houston Rockets. He gave the fans a new idea about Chinese basketball players.

Unfortunately, he hurt his left foot and could hardly stand playing basketball any more. After the operation and 18 months of recovery, he pulled through the injury and played again. Destiny doomed him not to play basketball any more and he was injured again. In September 2011,Yao Ming officially announced that he was sorry to retire. 

After retiring, he didn't just give up and do nothing. He made an effort to contribute to charity and became one of the charitable image ambassadors. When the Wen Chuan earthquake broke out, he donated 2 million RMB. Besides this, he joined the cause of protecting wild animals and refused to eat shark fin.