The Deaflympics’ organizing committee yesterday dismissed accusations by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors who said trusses above the performing stage at Taipei Stadium had fallen during installation early last month, and assured the public of the safety of the facilities.
The opening ceremony will be held at 7:30pm at the Taipei Stadium on Saturday with about 5,000 performers, including pop star A-mei (張惠妹) and a hearing-impaired Chinese dance troupe.
DPP Taipei City councilors Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) and Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁) inspected the stadium and the performing stage yesterday, and said the 10-story-high trusses that would support some of the performers had fallen during the installation and testing period. They also said a lift that would be used to raise performers to an elevated stage during the opening had become stuck during a rehearsal last Friday.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“What would they do if the trusses fell to the stage and hurt the performers during the opening ceremony? That would be a huge embarrassment in front of the international community and the performers could be seriously hurt,” Chuang said.
Huang said the city had budgeted NT$600 million (US$18 million) for the opening and closing ceremonies, which was much higher than the Kaohsiung City Government’s budget of NT$108 million for the opening and closing of the World Games.
Although contract workers had repaired the trusses and the lift stage, the city government failed to ensure the quality of the stage and facilities, he said.
Deaflympics Organizing Committee president Emile Sheng (盛治仁) denied the allegations and said no trusses had fallen. Sheng showed reporters a copy of a document he said proved the stage was safe, adding that the rehearsal had gone smoothly.
When asked about a possible storm on the weekend, Sheng said the opening ceremony would be postponed if there was a typhoon on Saturday. Competitions could also be postponed or moved to backup locations, he said.
In related news, the state-run Chunghwa Post Co will begin selling a set of two commemorative stamps on Saturday to mark the opening of the Deaflympics, the company said yesterday.
A commemorative cachet will be available at post offices throughout the country.
The Deaflympics logo is featured on the upper right corner of both stamps. The design of the logo integrates the three major elements of the Games: the Chinese character bei, or north, which represents Taipei; an ear, symbolizing the hearing impaired; and a person, symbolizing an athlete, a company spokesman said.
The NT$5 stamps show a badminton player and a track athlete set against a map of Taiwan and a pattern of dark and light rings symbolizing sonic wave vibrations, the spokesman said.
The NT$25 stamps show athletes engaged in taekwondo and tennis set against a background of a shape resembling an ear, which symbolizes the idea of “Taiwan reaching out, and the world coming in,” the spokesman said.
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