On April 27, the nation’s top athletes gathered at the National Sports Training Center (NSTC) in Zuoying District of southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City for a ceremony marking 100 days until the start of the 2016 Olympic Games. A palpable excitement permeated the event as the sportspeople discussed their upcoming journeys to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and their prospects of winning glory for their country. “I’ve been dreaming about competing in the Olympics since I started to wrestle seven years ago. Finally, I’ve got the chance, so I’m going to give it my all,” said Chen Wen-ling (陳玟陵), who has earned the right to represent her country in women’s wrestling at the Rio Olympics.
Competing under the name Chinese Taipei, Taiwan earned its first gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. In the Games that followed in 2008 and 2012, Taiwan competitors earned a combined six medals, including a further gold won by weighlifter Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨), who will be defending her title in Brazil. The two athletes who gained top honors in Athens, taekwondo champions Chen Shih-hsin (陳詩欣) and Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎), were among the guests of honor at the event in Kaohsiung.
Lee Chih-kai practices on a pommel horse at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung City. He will be the first local athlete to compete in artistic gymnastics at the Olympics since the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.
Wide World of Sports
The NSTC, which is funded and overseen by the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration, has been responsible for training athletes for the Olympics and other international sports events since 1976. The government’s target this year is for at least 50 local athletes to compete in Rio and for these sportspeople to win a minimum of three gold medals, two silvers and one bronze. Such a performance would be a vast improvement from the London Olympics in 2012, when Taiwan netted one gold and one bronze.
The nation’s goal has already been partially achieved since 58 athletes have qualified to compete in Rio. The vast majority of these future Olympians train at the NSTC, along with more than 400 other athletes preparing for upcoming events like the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei City and 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“People will be surprised at the diversity of our Olympic lineup, which illustrates the growth of Taiwan’s athletic talent pool,” NSTC Executive Director Chiu Ping-kun (邱炳坤) said. For example, this year Taiwan has competitors vying for medals in women’s boxing, women’s wrestling and equestrian individual jumping for the first time. But gymnast Lee Chih-kai’s (李智凱) inclusion on the Olympic team will perhaps attract the most attention. Eleven years ago, the young man, who is now 20 years old, was on the gymnastics team of a primary school in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County that was featured in the award-winning documentary “Jump! Boys.” Lee will be the first person to represent Taiwan in Olympic artistic gymnastics since 2000.
Though a good number of the nation’s athletes have a solid chance of medaling in this upcoming edition of the quadrennial event, many see the competitors in taekwondo and weightlifting as offering the greatest hope for glory. Since 1960, 14 of the 21 total medals won by Taiwan have been in these two sports.
National Endeavor
Liu Wei-ting (劉威廷) is tall and lean, his long limbs and sturdy frame ideal for an athlete competing in his chosen sport, taekwondo. The 21-year-old will be fighting in Rio in the 68-80 kilogram category, which puts him up against some of the fastest and most versatile martial artists in the world. He seemed at ease with this prospect as he explained his training strategy: “I’m following my coaches’ instructions to build my strength and muscles, and to be more aggressive in my fighting style,” he said. “I’ll need to improve if I want to stand a chance of winning against my main rivals, who are mostly from the West.”
Chen Nien-chin, right, will be the first-ever Taiwanese to compete in women’s boxing at the Olympics.
Another athlete taking her coach’s advice to heart is Tan Ya-ting (譚雅婷), an archer training under the tutelage of Koo Ja-chung from South Korea. Koo is no stranger to victory, having coached the South Korean national team that dominated the women’s team archery category at the Beijing Games in 2008. According to Tan, her training has become more mental than physical in the months leading up to the Olympics. “I’m learning how to control my heart rate through breathing exercises,” she said. “And the whole archery team meditates for 10 to 15 minutes before every practice session to help calm our minds. This is especially important in archery.”
Taiwan’s athletes are benefiting from the modern training equipment and facilities housed at a pair of government-built sports complexes opened in May 2015 at the NSTC. “The substantial investment—roughly NT$2.3 billion (US$71 million)—in these new sports centers reflects the government’s continued efforts to develop world-class competitive athletes,” Chiu said.
“The new taekwondo training hall was designed to be as similar to a real competition venue as possible,” said Lee Chia-jung (李佳融), head coach of Taiwan’s national taekwondo team. “It’s complete with the most modern equipment, including state-of-the-art and rather expensive head gear with electronic sensors,” he noted, adding that the government usually approves the team’s requisition orders without hesitation.
To help keep athletes in peak condition, the NSTC has enlisted the help of scores of specialists in areas such as nutrition and sports psychology. “Training top athletes is a very sophisticated matter today, compared with when I trained for the Olympics in the 1980s. There was no such thing as sports science back then. You just trained hard for hours and hours every single day,” said Tsai Wen-yi (蔡溫義), head coach of Taiwan’s Olympic weightlifting team. “Now we’re very serious about health management, which helps athletes train exactly as much as they should; no more, no less.”
Seven individuals will compete for Taiwan in weightlifting at the 2016 Olympic Games. According to Tsai, who won bronze in men’s 60 kg-class weightlifting at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, four of them are gold medal hopefuls, including Hsu Shu-ching and Lin Tzu-chi (林子琦), world record holders in women’s 53 kg and 63 kg-class weightlifting, respectively.
Tan Ya-ting, one of Taiwan’s top archers, lets loose an arrow while practicing a technique to steady her heart rate.
The Fruits of Victory
Olympians who bring home medals have always been rewarded with pride and prestige, standing out among the athletes of the world as champions. Of course, landing an advertising contract with a major sports brand would be nice, too. For Taiwan’s athletes, there are added incentives for victory. Thanks to a September 2015 amendment to the Regulations Governing the Issuance of Guo Guang Athletic Medals and Scholarships, which provides the basis for rewarding Taiwan’s top-performing competitors, winners of gold medals at the Olympics will receive NT$20 million (US$615,390) in cash, up from NT$12 million (US$369,230), whereas the prizes for silver and bronze medalists remain unchanged at NT$7 million (US$215,390) and NT$5 million (US$153,850), respectively. Alternatively, they can opt to receive monthly payments totaling NT$125,000 (US$3,850), NT$38,000 (US$1,170) and NT$24,000 (US$740), respectively, for the rest of their lives. The prizes are 50 percent greater for those competing in athletics, swimming and gymnastics in order to increase the popularity of those sports.
To further nurture the nation’s athletic talent, the Sports Administration launched the Rising Tide Program in 2012. The scheme is paid for by the Sports Development Fund, which is financed by revenues from the sports lottery. Established in 2007, the sports lottery allows members of the public to place bets on sporting events. The development fund targets young athletes, providing financial aid to cover expenses associated with training and overseas travel to attend contests. In 2015, 1,335 young athletes and several hundred coaches received NT$140 million (US$4.31 million) in grants through the program.
“This initiative enables young athletes to quickly pick up the baton from their predecessors,” said Hung Chih-chang (洪志昌), director of the Sports Administration’s Competitive Athletics Division. He noted that all of the 48 Taiwan athletes who participated in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, mainland China were beneficiaries of the program.
Chiu said he understands how difficult it will be for Taiwan to achieve its goal of three gold medals at this year’s Olympics. The government is doing its part by supporting the nation’s athletes with coaches, financial incentives, training facilities and more, but the NSTC chief knows that all the preparation in the world does not guarantee an Olympian a place on top of the podium.
In the end, it comes down to that single moment when athletes must choose whether to push beyond what they thought possible. Weightlifter Hsu Shu-ching experienced such a moment at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. In order to tie for gold, she had to lift 127 kilograms in the Clean & Jerk portion of the event. On her first attempt, she lifted 124 kg. On her second try, she achieved the 127 kg needed to tie for the gold, but she still had one lift to go. Summoning all her strength, she reached for the barbell at her feet and lifted the whopping 132 kg above her head, setting a new world record. “That was the most unforgettable contest for me. At the time, I didn’t know how I could possibly lift all that weight,” she said. “I’d never been capable of doing that during practice sessions.” It is that same determination Taiwan’s athletes must summon if they want to return home as Olympic champions.
Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw
PHOTOS BY CHIN HUNG-HAO AND COURTESY OF NATIONAL SPORTS TRAINING CENTER
INFOGRAPHICS BY CHO YI-JU AND KAO SHUN-HUI