BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Liu Yan, regarded as China's top classical dancer, was to give the performance of a lifetime: She was to dance a solo at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Liu, in red, performs on the 2008 Beijing Television Chinese New Year Festival Show. She was to perform a dance entitled "Silk Road," a piece intended to convey the rich cultural history of China. But it never happened. Twelve days before she was to take the stage at the Olympics, in an event that China hoped would catapult the nation to international glory, she fell while rehearsing the dance -- leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
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Liu Yan is paralyzed while rehearsing her solo dance for the Olympics' opening
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Doctors say she will not walk again
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Liu wins many dance awards; she is considered China's top classical dancer
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She believes she will recover and exercises every day
@placeholder does not blame anyone for the accident, saying that in big events, "accidents happen."