Taiwan’s Paralympic swim team has captured seven medals, including three gold and two silver medals, in the 2008 Canadian SWAD CAN-AM Open Swimming Championships, held in Victoria, British Columbia, over the weekend.
The four-member team, led by coach Lin Yi-ten, competed against the world’s best disabled swimmers from the US, Argentina, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal and Venezuela.
FLYING THE FLAG
The team was allowed to display the national flag of the Republic of China at the site of the swim meet.
Autism sufferer Tu Juo-lin won a gold medal in the women’s 200m butterfly and two bronze medals in the women’s 50m and 100m butterfly.
Luo Hsiao-hung, a wheelchair-bound Taiwanese swimmer currently residing in the US, won a gold medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke and a silver medal in the women’s 200m freestyle.
RECORD
Her time of 3 minutes 23:77 seconds in the women’s 200m freestyle event set a new Asian record.
Visually impaired Lin Hsi-wei won a gold medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke, while Huang Shu-mei captured a silver medal in women’s 400m freestyle.
The swim meet was one of the final warm-up events before the 2008 Paralympic Games, which will take place in Beijing in September.
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