Taiwan wasn’t among the winners at the Beijing Games, while historical rival China is basking in a golden glow after hosting the event and topping the medal table.
There were few positives to be drawn from this Olympiad in terms of sporting success, while a diplomatic spat over the country’s name before the Games began signaled there would be difficulties ahead.
When Taiwan’s Olympic delegation arrived at the Athlete’s Village, for instance, China’s media emphasized at every opportunity how its members felt “at home,” in an effort to score political points.
This occasionally uncomfortable situation was compounded when Chinese fans supported Taiwan’s athletes by shouting “Go China!”
Even so, a kind of Olympic truce prevailed and the chef de mission of the Taiwan delegation, Tsai Szu-chueh, said the organization of the Games was impressive, if not flawless.
“China has made great efforts over the past seven years. Its hardware development, such as sports venues, will leave a great legacy in the sports industry,” Tsai said. “But on the software front, China should have utilized the International Olympic Committee’s great talent pool and hired more international experts from the cities that hosted Olympics before. After all, it takes experience accumulated from the past to put on a great show.”
On the sporting front, Taiwan’s Games was symbolized by the failure of its vaunted baseball team, that claimed just one win and fell to relative novice China.
In the taekwondo competition, former Olympic champion Chu Mu-yen seemed fazed by the weight of a nation’s expectations and only managed bronze.
His girlfriend and Asian champion Yang Shu-chun, meanwhile, lost to Chinese rival Wu Jingyu, who went on to seal a gold medal victory.
Taekwondo head coach Hou Wei-hsing said pressure rather than a lack of ability or preparation had confounded his athletes.
“They did their best and had the confidence and ambition to win. Of course, Taiwan’s people had high hopes of them, but in the end they couldn’t achieve what they aimed for. We’ll review how we can make progress,” Hou said.
Before the Games, Tsai predicted Taiwan would exceed its Athens haul of two gold medals, a pair of silvers and a bronze, to come 31st in the standings.
Instead, the country slipped to 80th in the rankings, with four bronze medals.
“Of course the result falls short of our expectations … our hopes were dashed. Certainly we feel disappointed, but the important thing is that we note other nations have made greater progress than us,” Tsai said. “Our athletes worked hard, but competing players worked even harder and their basic training was very solid.”
Tsai echoed Hou’s words when he said training systems would be reviewed and there would be improvements for London 2012.
Many countries will be looking at China’s example when it comes to reforming training programs, said Jeff Ruffolo, a senior advisor to the Beijing organizers who has overseen four Olympics.
“The level of competition was so much higher than before and this was seen in the number of records that were broken,” Ruffolo said. “China not only exceeded at what it has traditionally done well, but also sports like archery where it has not done so well. Maybe others will emulate this.”
“John Hancock” is the Taipei Times’ correspondent for the Beijing Olympics.
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