Team Taiwan will come away from the 2004 Athens Olympics with five medals -- two gold, two silver and one bronze -- having at last realized its dream of joining the ranks of the world's athletic champions.
The team secured the biggest medal tally in the nation's Olympic history, ranking 31st in the final medals table out of a total of 202 countries participating -- an improvement of 28 places from its standing of 58th following the Sydney Games in 2000.
"My dream has come true, and we are satisfied with the result of the nation's first gold medals. I will feel no regrets, even though I have to retire," said Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from Taiwan.
In addition to the taekwondo athletes Chu Mu-yen (
The 17-day Athens Olympics was to end with a glorious closing ceremony last night, in which some 40 Taiwanese athletes were to represent the country's delegation. The event was to be festive, cosmopolitan and stylish.
Unlike the opening ceremony, the details of the closing ceremony were not kept secret. From Aug. 24, for three successive days, dress rehearsals were underway in a small area next to where the opening ceremony was held. A single spotlight was used in these proceedings, which otherwise took place in pitch darkness, so that photographers could not take pictures of them.
The ceremony was to begin at 2:15am Taiwan time.
Weather forecasters were predicting a clear evening in Athens, with the moon visible in the sky.
The closing ceremony's designer, Dimitris Papaioannou told a news conference that he wanted to enable the whole world to experience the happiness of a Greek festival and to take part in a Greek feast, before declaring that although the Athens Olympics is now over, the excitement of the event will always remain in the hearts of the people of the world.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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