Beijing 08: Chinese officials admit that dancer Liu Yan was paralysed while rehearsing for opening ceremony...

After downplaying the incident, Beijing's Olympic organizers acknowledged Thursday that a dancer was paralyzed after a platform collapsed during rehearsals for the Opening Ceremony.

Liu Yan, 26, fell July 27 as she was rehearsing a sequence called "Silk Road," in which she was supposed to dance on a painting with swirling scarves around her. The sequence was supposed to last two minutes; Liu is now expected to be paralyzed from the waist down for life.

Making up for its belated reporting, China's official news media have spun Liu's tragedy into a tale of national heroism. She has been photographed smiling angelically from her bed at a Beijing military hospital, making a victory sign with her fingers.

"I'm not going to feel sorry for myself. I fell at the Olympics, but I will be back to create beauty for the world in one way or another," she was quoted as telling an official Chinese news service.

Although it is unclear when they first visited, the Chinese media are now full of reports of teary bedside visits from Olympic organizers. 

"You sacrificed so much for the Olympics and for China," Opening Ceremony director Zhang Yimou was quoted as telling her. More...

Watch Liu Yan here...

See also: China Olympic ceremony star, Lin Miaoke, mimed...

And this: Beijing 08: part of the opening ceremony was faked...