Taiwan’s taekwondo golden couple came up short yesterday at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium, although Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) did manage to win a bronze medal.
This makes him the most decorated Olympian in the country’s history, after he won gold in Athens four years ago in the same 58kg class. Pressure seemed to sap the spirit from Chu and his girlfriend, Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), who were widely expected to win golds.
Yang, 22, scrapped to a 1-0 victory in her first 49kg fight, in the morning, and dispatched her Iranian opponent 2-0 to reach the semi-final.
But China’s Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺), her great rival, was just too aggressive and powerful to overcome.
Backed by the home crowd, Wu got off to a good start and gave Yang little chance to recover. It was a reverse of the victory Yang had against Wu in May’s Asian Championship.
Then, in the bronze medal matchup, Daynellis Montejo of Cuba just beat Yang with a winning point in the extra round when it finished 3-3 in the third.
After the bout concluded and the formalities were over, a teary-eyed Yang fled the gymnasium.
Chu, on the other hand, managed to hang tough after losing to Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic 3-2 in the quarter-final.
The whole crowd seemed surprised at the loss, but in his bronze medal match Chu fought better, winning convincingly against Thailand’s Chutchawal Khawlaor 4-2.
The mainly Chinese audience called out his name and cheered a pleased-looking Chu.
Both Chu and Yang seemed tight in their key matches. Taiwanese Olympic delegation leader Tsai Szu-chueh (蔡賜爵) said the pressure got to them.
“Chu had a lot of pressure because he was defending his title and there were a lot of expectations on him,” Tsai said. “Today his fighting strategies were too conservative and he did not attack enough.”
Chu said he was also surprised to lose against Mercedes, adding he was a difficult opponent who kept falling back or over when he attacked and this confounded his fight strategy.
Outside the gymnasium it was a lockout for many Taiwanese, who couldn’t get tickets for the contests.
Inside there were scattered Chinese Taipei flags. Patty Tsai (蔡佩娟) and her colleague Yik Puiching (易佩貞) live and work in Beijing and had to make by hand their hats, stickers and banners supporting the nation.
The two advertising film executives said they were disappointed at Taiwan’s poor performance in taekwondo and baseball.
“But we still want to show our care and sincerity. We believe the athletes tried their best. There’s no point being bitter, we must just work harder,” Tsai said.
Tsai Szu-chueh said it was still possible to win two gold medals, to add to the nation’s three bronze, as he fancied Taiwan’s chances in the second round of the taekwondo competition today.
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