Thousands of spectators and athletes gathered at Taipei Municipal Stadium last night to celebrate as the 2009 Summer Deaflympics came to a close.
The Russian Federation bagged the most golds and the most medals at the Games — 29 gold, 41 silver and 28 bronze for a total of 98 medals.
Second and third in terms of gold medals were Ukraine and South Korea, with 20 and 14 medals respectively. Taiwan ranked fifth with 33 medals in total — 11 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
The closing festivities included drummers from U Theatre (優人神鼓), the Minghuayuan (明華園) Taiwanese Opera Troupe and Hong Kong singer Aaron Kwok (郭富城).
While watching the performances, athletes enjoyed a banquet of 11 traditional Taiwanese dishes and desserts. Organizers designed the closing ceremony to be unique, and it was the first time a banquet had been held for the celebration.
The dishes included steamed buns, tempura fish cakes, beef noodle soup, minced pork with rice, mango shaved ice, bubble tea and other treats. Each athlete also received pineapple cakes, nougat, coffee-flavored plums and oolong tea to take home.
Spectators in the stands each received a box of snacks and a glowing tambourine during the festivities.
Athletes celebrated the conclusion of the Games by dancing along with the cheerleaders, forming long lines and weaving in and out among the tables.
The Widex Fair Play Award went to Gabor Mathe of Hungary, who won the bronze in the men’s singles tennis.
Mathe took home US$5,000 in prize money. The winner of the award must be under 25 years old or younger and demonstrate sportsmanship, respect and fairness in the Olympic spirit.
The sports director and president of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) reviews nominations submitted by ICSD technical directors in each sport. The final nominee is selected and presented to the Widex representative for approval.
ICSD president Donalda Ammons also presented Athens as the host city of 2013 Summer Deaflympics.
The Chinese delegation, which did not attend the opening ceremony on Sept. 5, did show up for the closing ceremony. Deputy director of the Chinese Deaflympics team Zhao Su-jing (趙素京) said at a press conference before the closing ceremony that the team still had about 52 competitors and staff in Taipei who would attend.
The Chinese team did not carry the Chinese flag upon entering the stadium, instead holding up a banner reading: “Go, Taiwanese compatriots in the disaster zone.”
China attended neither the opening nor closing ceremonies of the World Games in Kaohsiung in July.
Zhao said China sent 78 athletes to the Games this year.
As they were from different provinces and had to gather in Beijing before coming to Taiwan, the team had not been able to make it to the opening ceremony, she said.
Also See: DEAFLYMPICS TAIPEI 2009: Ukraine wins Taipei soccer gold
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS