Olympic double gold medalist Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨) yesterday announced she is retiring from weightlifting and would not compete in the Asian Games in August.
In a Facebook post, the 27-year-old cited long-standing knee problems and injuries sustained during last year’s World Weightlifting Championships as the reasons for her decision, which also meant she was reluctantly giving up her dreams of competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but would turn her attention to coaching a new generation of athletes.
“I am still recovering from serious injuries sustained last year and cannot undergo training in full. After discussing the matter with my coach, my doctor, the Chinese Taipei Weightlifting Association and leaders in various organizations, I have decided to withdraw from training for the Asian Games in Jakarta and end my career as an athlete,” she said.
Photo: CNA
“Because of the government’s financial support, I will stay in the National Sports Training Center and assist Coach Tsai Wen-yee (蔡溫義) and other coaches in training young weightlifters. I will learn to be a good coach to help train more top athletes for the nation,” she said.
Hsu thanked her coach, the association, her sponsors and other parties for supporting her training so that she could do so well not only in the Olympics, but the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Government policy and support from others for weightlifting are crucial for athletes like her, Hsu said.
Hsu won a gold in the 53kg category at the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Games, the first Taiwanese athlete to win two Olympic golds. She was scheduled to compete in the same category in Jakarta.
She said she hoped the public would continue to support her and cheer for the nation’s weightlifters in Jakarta.
Tsai, who won a bronze in the 60kg class in weightlifting at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, told the Central News Agency that Hsu’s retirement comes two years earlier than they had planned.
He and Hsu had originally planned that she would compete in the Tokyo Games, but he would respect her decision even though it was against his wishes, Tsai said.
Hsu tore two ligaments in her right arm during the world championships and underwent surgery after she returned to Taiwan.
Told rehabilitation would take a year, her recovery has not gone as she had expected, Hsu has said previously.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
RSS