After controversy sparked by Taiwanese speedskater Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷), the Sports Administration yesterday announced that athletes who are to compete in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September would be given a clear set of rules to follow regarding conduct.
Huang drew widespread criticism for actions and comments she made before and during the Beijing Winter Olympics, which ended yesterday.
Before the Games began, the two-time Olympian uploaded a video on Instagram showing her wearing the Chinese speedskating team’s uniform while training in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Photo: Reuters
After the 1,500m speedskating race on Feb. 7, Huang told the Beijing Daily that she was touched by the enthusiasm of the audience at the race, as it “felt like I was competing at home.”
After the 1,000m race on Thursday last week, in which she placed 24th, Huang thanked her supporters on Facebook and said “the comment section is now open for haters and trolls.”
She posted the same remark on the Chinese microblogging Web site Sina Weibo, but added that “there are no trolls in the comment section” there.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday asked the Ministry of Education and the Sports Administration to investigate Huang’s remarks and actions before and during the games to determine whether she should be punished.
Officials were also told to review existing rules and propose changes so that future national team athletes could have a clear code of conduct to follow when representing Taiwan abroad.
While Huang was Taiwan’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, sports officials said on Friday that Lee Wen-yi (李玟儀), Taiwan’s first female Olympic Alpine skier, would carry the national flag at the closing ceremony.
Lan Kun-ten (藍坤田), the Sports Administration’s director of competitive athletics, said that the agency would soon gather representatives from the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and Chinese Taipei Skating Union to discuss Huang’s case, as well as her subsidies.
The agency would determine a penalty in one to two weeks, he added.
“We will finish amending the Regulations Concerning Audition, Training and Registration of Sports Coaches and Athletes for National Representative Team of International Games (國家代表隊教練與選手選拔培訓及參賽處理辦法) before the Summer [FISU] World University Games in June, so athletes competing in the Asian Games in China’s Hangzhou city in September can follow the code of conduct,” Lan said.
Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee acting secretary-general Steven Chen (陳士魁) on Saturday said that Huang is to participate in two tournaments in the US next month.
A meeting to review the Winter Olympics is likely to be held in April, as Huang needs to quarantine upon returning to Taiwan, he said.
A number of issues should be settled first to determine a penalty for Huang, Chen said.
Neither the national team athlete manual nor the information session for athletes before the trip to Beijing outlines how athletes should conduct themselves or indicate a punishment for misconduct, he said.
National team athletes are only disqualified if they breach anti-doping regulations or other sports regulations, Chen said.
What athletes say on social media and what they wear during practice do not constitute disqualification under the current regulations, he said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary