An appeal for "fair play" by Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from Taiwan, contributed to the nation's winning two gold medals in taekwondo, Taiwan's first in any Olympic Games, observers claimed yesterday.
Chen Shih-hsin (陳詩欣) and Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) won gold medals in Thursday's taekwondo flyweight events.
The fighters' superb techniques and grit, of course, were the prime factors that earned them their gold medals.
But observers from Taiwan attending the Games to support Team Taiwan's athletes believe that Wu's demand for "fair play" from the referees, in discussions prior to the competition with IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge and newly elected World Taekwondo Federation President Chungwon Choue, also played a part in the fighters' victories.
Developed in ancient Korea as a defensive martial art, modern taekwondo became an official Olympic sport at the 2000 Sydney Games. It had participation status in 1992 and 1996.
Olympic taekwondo has been marred by disputes over biased ref-ereeing in favor of Korean fighters, a controversy that culminated at the Sydney Olympics.
Wu, also a member of the coordination commission for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, met with Rogge earlier this month over widespread allegations that the results and winners of this year's Olympic taekwondo competitions had been decided before a kick had even been aimed.
Wu told Rogge that against this backdrop, the notion of "fair play" should be observed during the taekwondo event.
Rogge is said to have agreed with Wu's argument and appointed him as one of three supervisors overseeing the contests.
Wu had also met with Choue in Athens several days ago and expressed his concern about the game-fixing rumors, whereupon Choue promised that this year's Games would be fair.
Not completely reassured, Wu announced publicly prior to the beginning of the flyweight division competition on Thursday that he would suggest taekwondo be dropped from the 2008 Olympics if there was evidence of unfairness or other untoward incidents at the Athens Games.
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