Taiwanese athletes are to compete in the Summer Olympics this year despite the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil, the Sports Administration said, adding that the nation is aiming to have at least 50 athletes compete in the games.
“According to the information we have received, Rio de Janeiro has had 279 cases by mid-last month in which patients were reported to have contracted the Zika virus, but only seven of those were confirmed. The Olympics Games Organizing Committee’s chief medical officer [Joao Grangeiro] has also indicated that mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus reproduce quickly in hot weather. However, he said their numbers fall dramatically in August, when the temperature drops as winter arrives,” the sports agency said in a statement.
According to the agency, the Rio Olympics Organizing Committee said that it has formed an ad hoc team to prevent the virus from spreading further.
Aside from the outbreak of the Zika virus, which the US Centers for Disease Control has determined as a cause of microcephaly and other birth defects, political turmoil caused by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment also has some people worried that the Olympics Games might not go ahead as planned.
Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), the only Taiwanese executive board member serving on the International Olympics Committee, said that the impeachment would not affect the Olympics.
Twenty-nine Taiwanese athletes have already qualified to compete in 11 categories at the Rio Olympics: 10m air rifle and double trap shooting, archery, equestrian, track and field, marathon, weightlifting, taekwondo, cycling, wrestling, gymnastics and table tennis, the agency said.
The nation would be competing in the equestrian category for the first time, it said.
Meanwhile, 13 Taiwanese swimmers have reached the Level B time standard and the International Swimming Federation would on July 4 start informing the swimmers who have qualified, it said.
There are still athletes participating in Olympic qualifiers ahead of the July 18 deadline in track and field, women’s archery, table tennis, tennis, golf, judo, swimming, rowing, canoeing, cycling, boxing and beach volleyball, the agency added.
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