Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Friday evening unveiled two promotional clips initially meant to promote the East Asian Youth Games, which had been scheduled to take place in Taichung in August next year before being canceled due to Beijing’s intervention.
The East Asian Olympic Committee nullified its host city contract with Taichung on Wednesday, one day after the committee voted to cancel the Games at an extraordinary council meeting in Beijing.
Before the committee revoked the city’s right to host the Games, the Taichung City Government had originally planned to release the teasers next month, Lin said on Facebook, adding that despite the cancelation, he had decided to publicize the clips, as he did not want the production team’s efforts to be wasted.
Screengrab from Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung’s Facebook account
The two commercials — titled We Will Teach You a Lesson and The Unknown Force — are set on high-school campuses and in local communities, and feature student athletes engaging in sports such as soccer, track and field, badminton, cycling and basketball.
We Will Teach You a Lesson features narration matched with footage of student athletes honing their skills, with one of the narrators saying that she starts practicing three hours before school each day.
“Our hands are heavily calloused. We are not here to play and we do not understand why we should give up,” the narrator says.
The Unknown Force portrays how young athletes might be unknown to the public, but they are heroes of the arena and potentially society’s heroes of the future.
“The young athletes of Taiwan might see their opportunity to compete and to witness the results of their training denied due to political reasons. However, they have continued to train so that one day they can set foot in the arena,” Lin said.
“Frustration. Responsibility. Persistence. These young athletes know this better than anyone else. Faced with Taiwan’s dilemma, we should never give up, either,” he said. “The athletes have taught us a lesson about not giving up.”
Expressing regret and dissatisfaction about Taichung’s hosting of the Games being canceled, Lin on Thursday said that the city would soon submit a petition to the committee regarding the decision.
“We will side with the athletes and defend their rights in line with the Olympic spirit,” he said, adding that Taichung would be seeking the support of committee members after submitting the petition.
Additional reporting by CNA
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