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Athletes return bearing medals

Taiwan's athletes were honored yesterday for their successes at the 38th International Children's Games in Cleveland, Ohio, where the team placed second overall, out of 55 participating nations.

The athletes won a total of 20 medals, with the Taipei delegation accounting for 11 medals and the Kaohsiung delegation taking nine. The biggest winner at the games meanwhile was the US, host of this year's event.

The 24-member delegation participated in athletics, gymnastics, swimming, tennis and snooker, achieving marked success in swimming, winning a total of seven medals.

The delegation received a warm welcome from officials yesterday, while Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) presented medals to the winners. Ma said he was impressed with their performances.

He also said that sports was the best channel for peaceful cross-strait communication. He called on China to refrain from pressuring Taiwanese athletes participating in international sporting events.

Tang Sheng-chieh (唐聖捷), who won gold and silver medals in swimming, said he was moved when he saw the nation's flag flying. "It is not easy for the national flag to be hung up in an international event, given pressure from China," he said.

Chen I-chuan (陳怡娟) was excited after winning two gold medals in swimming.

"When I realized I had come first in the 100m breaststroke, I was thinking: could I pick up another gold medal?" she said.

Chen was born into an athletic family. Her mother was a basketball player, while her father, Chen Feng-ru (陳峰儒), was coach of Taiwan's Olympic tae kwon do athletes. But Chen I-chuan chose to swim.

"I don't like tae kwon do," she said.

She started formal training seven years ago when she was in grade one. Now, she goes swimming at 5am every morning before school.

"My hard work has paid off," she said proudly.

Chen I-chuan's two gold medals were in the 50m and 100m freestyle, Tang Sheng-chieh's gold was in the 400m breaststroke and he took silver in the 200m individual medley. Yuan Ping (袁平) bested competitors for a gold in the 50m butterfly and a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly, and Chen Yu-jou (陳儀柔) won a silver medal in 50m freestyle.

Tennis player Peng Hsuen-yih (彭賢尹) took the top spot in men's singles. In snooker, Lu Cheng-ta (呂政達) and Ke Chung-hsiao (柯俊瀟) scored second in men's doubles, while Lin Chia-chih (林珈芝) won a bronze medal in women's singles. Yang Tsung-kai (楊淙凱) won a bronze medal in shot put.
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