He said he began working out because as a child he had breathing problems and needed to become stronger. Like most Taiwanese kids his first sport was baseball but he started concentrating on bodybuilding, as he didn't like contact sports.
"[Bodybuilding] has helped me not just to have a strong body, in fact inside I am not much stronger than other people, but it also helps my mind and in my work," he said.
Answering criticism that bodybuilding is not a real sport because there is no obvious winner like in sprinting or weightlifting, both Hsu and Chen agreed there were difficulties because judging would always be subjective.
"It is not objective to give points on the basis of how you look," Chen said. "We have to influence the judges, show our morals and our discipline, not just our muscles, if we are to impress the judges and get extra points."
There are also strict rules that bodybuilders have to follow if they are not to lose points or be disqualified.
Bodybuilding trunks are inspected before competition, cassette or CD tapes of the music they will perform to must be approved, coloring of the skin or "excessive oiling" is not allowed. "Moon posing," bending down and showing off your gluteus maxims, or buttock muscles, to the audience, will bring immediate disqualification.
Most important, however, is the drugs issue.
Yeh said he had never taken drugs and always discouraged any of his students or athletes from taking them because you could see the effect of them in a face.
"I call it a drug face, it's no good," he said.
Both Hsu and Chen said there was no point taking drugs because if they did and won then the medal would be taken away after their test results were found to be positive.
Despite the pedigree of Hsu and Chen as competitors, some Taiwanese journalists believe they stand no chance of winning because the judges will favor Korean competitors.
"If the judging is fair," Hsu responded, "we will win."
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