While the nation's poor showing on the international sporting scene continues to flummox sports-minded folk, athletics committees could do a lot worse than look at and learn from Taiwan's special needs sports associations that constantly manage to build medal winning teams.
Whether it's a regional table tennis competition, or an international athletics meet, Chinese Taipei's paraplegic, deaf and mentally handicapped athletes rarely come home empty handed.
Since 1992 -- the year the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized Taiwan's handicapped sports associations -- the Chinese Taipei Sports Association of the Deaf (
The most recent of these successes took place at the Special Olympics World Games, which were held in Dublin, Ireland, in August. A 43-member squad brought home 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medals. The team's strongest fields proved to be bocce, aquatics and bowling.
"We started a special five-stage training program a year before we left for Dublin and it certainly paid off," said James Chang (
However impressive these achievements, maybe they are being overlooked. Not that this has stopped the nation's handicapped sports men and women from building up a reputation as some of the finest physically and mentally impaired athletes in the world. This is a status that, according to Lai Fau-hwan (
"The biggest problem has always been the fact that non-handicapped [Taiwanese] put far too much emphasis on being a hero and winning rather then simply participating," Lai said. "I look at it differently. It's not about winning, it's about physical well-being, enjoyment and involvement."
A graduate of Taiwan Normal University's faculty of Physical Education, Lai lost his left leg in motorcycle accident in 1979. His prosthetic limb didn't stop him becoming one of the nation's first paraplegic gold medal winners.
Lai entered the record books at the 1989 Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC) in Kobe, Japan, winning gold in the discus and javelin and silver in the shot putt. On his return to Taiwan, Lai was greeted to a hero's welcome and even honored at a special reception by then president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
On taking over as director of the Chinese Taipei Paralympics Committee in 1992, Lai's first task was to secure funding for the cash-strapped organization.
Although government funding was not forthcoming for the first three years of Lai's tenure, in 1995, the government finally caved in and donated NT$10million to the committee for training and education programs and travel expenses.
"It was a real fight to get the funding in the beginning. I don't think the government considered [handicapped] sports worthy of funding," said the committee director. "It's gotten a lot better. Society's opinions about us and what we can achieve, given the right support, has changed for the better."
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