Taiwan's Olympic team was dealt another serious blow yesterday when a third member of its weightlifting team was barred from competition, further dashing hopes that the island will bring home a gold for the first time in its history.
Yesterday, as hundreds of spectators were converging on Australia's port city of Sydney and the festive spirit of the Games was building, Chen Po-pu (陳柏甫), 23, was being ushered onto a plane and back to Taiwan.
Chang Chao-kuo (張朝國), the head of Taiwan's weightlifting federation, said after hearing of the ban: "I feel so ashamed. All our athletes will now be suspect and this will have a negative impact on the Taiwan team."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Speaking through a press release, Taiwan's Olympic delegation said that the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) had requested that Chen, one of Taiwan's top three male competitors, be banned from competition for two years and barred from participating in the Sydney Olympics.
Chen is the third weightlifter from Taiwan to be barred from participating in the Olympics in a little over a week. On Sept. 5 Chen Jui-lien (陳瑞蓮) and Wu Mei-yi (吳美儀) were also barred from the Games.
All three weightlifters tested positive for muscle building and performance enhancing anabolic steroids.
Chen, who took silver and bronze medals at world junior competitions in 1997 and 1998, was on the reserve list to compete in the 62kg category in Sydney.
At a training session yesterday, a coach with the team said Chen's drug use was baffling since he was not scheduled to compete.
"He had no reason to take any drugs because he wasn't on the formal list of competitors. He was on the reserve list," said the coach, who declined to be identified.
Chen Po-pu first tested positive for steroids in March of this year after he set a new national record for the 63kg category, lifting 130kg in the snatch competition.
Chen said that he was using the drug for treatment of a shoulder injury, which doctors at Tzu Chi hospital in Hualien where he received the treatment have verified.
Chen's father, Chen Chi-jung (陳啟榮), also petitioned against the decision to Taiwan's Weightlifting Association arguing that the IWF standards say that athletes who are being treated for injury can refuse doping tests.
The elder Chen said that the amount of the drug in his son's system may have exceeded international standards, but the drug was not being used illegally.
Chen was barred at that time from competition until an Aug. 18 decision by Taiwan's weightlifting federation overturned a similar ruling against two gold-medal hopefuls, Chen Jui-lien and Wu Mei-yi, allowing them to join Taiwan's Olympic team.
With Chen and Wu allowed to compete, the ban against Chen Po-pu was also lifted on the grounds that the athletes were using the drugs for treatment, not to enhance performance.
However, Chen and Wu had also been found to have performance enhancing drugs that exceeded normal levels in their blood. Chen Jui-lien was using drugs to treat a chronic knee problem. In Wu's case, weightlifting officials have questioned the validity of the testing.
According to IWF regulations, countries who have three athletes found to be using banned performance-enhanced drugs will be fined US$50,000.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
AMENDMENT: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of high-temperature days, affecting economic productivity and public health, experts said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is considering amending the Meteorological Act (氣象法) to classify “high temperatures” as “hazardous weather,” providing a legal basis for work or school closures due to extreme heat. CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) yesterday said the agency plans to submit the proposed amendments to the Executive Yuan for review in the fourth quarter this year. The CWA has been monitoring high-temperature trends for an extended period, and the agency contributes scientific data to the recently established High Temperature Response Alliance led by the Ministry of Environment, Lu said. The data include temperature, humidity, radiation intensity and ambient wind,
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
RSS