ATHENS, Sept. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The heroine of the Hollywood movie "Dancer in the Dark" may be pitiful, but never are the blind athletes in athletics events of the on-going Athens Paralympic Games.

    Li Duan, a blind long-jumper from northeastern China's Liaoning Province, proved his competence and excellence in men's F11 long jump event, winning the first athletics gold medal for China in Athens.

    He was followed by American Elexis Gillette and Russian Sergey Sevostianov.

    "The coach is like my eyes," Li said, describing the unique relation between a blind long-jumper and his coach.

    Because blind athletes can not see anything, they will totally depend on the voice of their coaches as a guide to adjust own steps in the approach and make the final jump.

    "Come, come, come, Li Duan," Li's coach Jin Fan called out as Li stood on the right position at the start line, while starting to clap his hands to make a kind of rhythmic sound.

    Then li rushed forward according to the rhythmic sound, just like a dancer follows his or her music.

    When the rhythmic gets intense, Li jumped as far as he can.

    This kind of interaction is unique and difficult.

    From time to time, blind long-jumpers fell heavily to the ground due to less satisfactory coordination.

    In the event of the day, American Gillettee tumbled and crashed into the sand pit in his first attempt. He was moved out by the staff after lying there still for several minutes.

    In his fifth attempt, Li failed to take the right direction and maintain a good pace, almost ending in a dangerous crash.

    However, none of the 13 blind jumpers ever showed any fear or timidness.

    Their braveness earned frequent applause and respect from the audience.

    Blind athletes also competed in women's 200m heats and men's 10,000m in their first competition day.

    Although there is only one champion, all of them are winners who successfully overcame the darkness.

    "It's amazing that no blind athlete lets their disability to stop the progress," Brian Whitmer, a coach from U.S. Blind Athletes Association told Xinhua. Enditem (By Yang Qingchuan)