Reports of an approaching typhoon did not seem to daunt Taiwanese long-distance swimmer Wang Han (
Wang added, however, that he would continue to monitor weather reports today and might consider postponing the swim a day, depending on the situation. The event may possibly be postponed for a week if the situation gets worse.
"But we are confident that the plan will go on as scheduled," he said.
The team consists of 32 members, that include 16 Taiwanese swimmers, 12 from China and four from South Africa.
The team is scheduled to start from Tamsui's Fishermen's Wharf tomorrow.
The team will swin day and night for four days. The swimmers are expected to arrive in Matsu next Tuesday if everything proceeds smoothly.
If the team fails to achieve its goal, it plans to try again next month.
The announcement was made yesterday at a press conference attended by the swimmers and Taiwanese track and field star Chi Cheng (
Chi has been a strong supporter of Wang's endeavors since Wang swam across the Strait of Gibraltar in 1986. Since then, Wang has successfully swum across 12 straits around the world.
"He [Wang] is a true hero; he risks his life in order to achieve his goal," she said.
The 32 swimmers come from all walks of life, including chefs, stock brokers and students.
Salina Chen (陳培溫), who turns 16 this year, is the youngest participant on the team. She just got accepted to Nangang Senior High School.
"I saw the news on TV in April and thought it would be fun," she told the Taipei Times. "And I decided to register for the event immediately afterward."
After passing a physical exam in May, Chen went through three months of rigorous training.
Chen recalled being stung by jellyfish during training and was asked to swim from the coast of Keelung County to Keelung Islet (基隆嶼), a small island that is located along the northern shore of Taiwan.
"Sometimes I was so exhausted that I thought about quitting," she said. "But I can say that I have been a part of a great challenge if I manage to pull this off."
Wang said the young swimmers did not receive any special treatment during training.
Besides the physical training, swimmers were also taught to understand the ocean, the currents and how to protect themselves from sharks.
He added that the most challenging part of the swim was the Taiwan Strait's choppy seas.
"The best time to swim is when both the southwest front and the seasonal wind from the northwest subside," he said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS