Former Olympic bronze medalist Chi Cheng (紀政) suggested boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics as she expressed concern over President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) acceptance of China's arrangement for the Taiwanese sports team's order of appearance in the Olympic procession next Friday.
Speaking in an interview on Thursday with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) , Chi said Taiwan had always appeared in the Olympic procession in the “T” (TPE) section. Once it joins the parade under the “C” (Chinese Taipei) section, Taipei would be falling into Beijing’s trap, she said.
The order of Taiwan’s appearance is significant, so the government should not accept this arrangement to avoid setting a bad example and being belittled in the future, said Chi, who is also the chief executive of the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee for the 2009 World Games.
She suggested Taiwan not attend the ceremony as a sign of protest.
Chi, dubbed by Taiwanese media as the “Flying Antelope,” won the bronze medal in the 80m hurdles at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. The first Asian female track and field athlete to win an Olympic medal, Chi broke the world record nine times.
In the late 1970s, Taiwan almost lost its membership in the International Association of Athletics Federations because of Chinese oppression. With her connections in international sports circles, Chi filed a lawsuit with the UK High Court and helped the country retain its membership.
Chi said in the interview that Ma seemed to be unaware of the whole situation.
Based on the agreement between the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Taiwanese team is abbreviated as “TPE” and thus listed under the “T” section in the IOC’s directory. This model has been used for years and applies to other sports events.
However, Beijing has changed the order of procession based on the number of strokes in the first character of each country’s Olympic designation in simplified Chinese script.
As for Beijing’s show of “goodwill” in changing Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北, or Taipei, China) back to Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, or Chinese Taipei), Chi said it was merely a small favor but the procession was a major issue and a big trap.
Chi warned that Taiwan’s status would likely suffer if it was included under the “C” section with “Hong Kong, China” and “Macau, China.” “Distance tests a horse’s strength (路遙知馬力),” Chi said, quoting a Chinese saying. “Ma should think twice before he acts.”
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