Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee vice president Steven Chen on Tuesday apologized after weightlifter Lin Tzu-chi (林子琦) was suspended because of an abnormal doping test, costing the nation a strong medal chance.
Lin was considered a gold-medal contender in the women’s 63kg division on Tuesday, but her absence opened the way for her main rival, Deng Wei (鄧薇) of China, to win the gold with a record-breaking combined total of 262kg.
The previous record, 261kgs, was set by Lin at the Asian Games in 2014, but her performance has slipped since then. She placed sixth at the World Weightlifting Championships in November last year, with a combined lift of 238kgs.
Photo: Liao Yu-wei, Taipei Times
“As the leader of Taiwan’s Olympics delegation, I take full responsibility for a failure to win a medal in the weightlifting event,” Chen said. “We disappointed everyone in Taiwan.”
The delegation decided to pull Lin from the competition after receiving a report on Friday last week that indicated abnormalities in a doping test.
“Taiwan always follows the highest standards in doping tests to ensure that competition is fair and protect athletes’ rights,” Chen said. “So we have decided to temporarily suspend Lin Tzu-chi from competition and make it clear to everyone that there is no room for compromise on doping.”
Chen said that the decision was based on guidance from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Chen quoted weightlifting team coach Tsai Wen-yi (蔡溫義) as saying he was saddened by news of the test results.
It was not the first time Lin failed a doping test. She tested positive for taking a banned substance before the 2010 Asian Games, and while she insisted she had mistakenly taken an illegal drug, she was suspended for two years.
Sports Administration Director-General Ho Jow-fei (何卓飛), who is in Rio de Janeiro, also expressed regret over the situation.
Ho said Lin was one of the athletes under close watch by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and any tests involving her drew attention from the federation.
He said the test was done in Taiwan before the Olympic Games and sent to Japan for testing.
The results came back on Friday and Japan sent a copy to the IWF, he said, adding that there are test results of other athletes that have yet to arrive.
“WADA requires that if an abnormal test is confirmed, then the athlete must be temporarily suspended from competition,” Ho said.
“We had to make this decision, as regrettable as it is. We also call on athletes to be careful in what they use,” Ho added.
The test result was not immediately made public to prevent it from affecting the morale of Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨) and Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) in their weightlifting events on Sunday and Monday respectively, Chinese-language media said.
The delegation said Lin’s suspension would make it harder for Taiwanese athletes to achieve the goal set by the Sports Administration of three golds, two silvers and bronze for the Rio Games.
At press time last night, Taiwan had won three medals: a gold and a bronze in women’s weightlifting and a bronze medal in the women’s team event in archery.
TIMING: 'The CHIPS Act funding is crucial for us. In other words, if the act’s passage is delayed for too long, we will certainly need to adjust,’ chairwoman Doris Hsu said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) plans to start construction on a US$5 billion wafer fabrication facility in Texas in November, after passage of the US$52 billion Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. The fab would be the largest of its kind in the US and one of the largest in the world, with a monthly capacity of 1.2 million wafers, GlobalWafers said, adding that the investment would be the first new fab in the US in more than 20 years and critical to closing a semiconductor supply chain gap. The world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier said the project, which
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday commenced mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced chips in the world. South Korea’s largest company said in a statement that it was beginning with 3-nanometer semiconductors for high-performance and specialized low-power computing applications before expanding to mobile processors. By applying so-called Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, Samsung’s 3-nanometer products reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared with 5-nanometer chips, it said. Samsung’s push to be first
COUNTERING CHINA: ‘When democracies demonstrate what we can do ... I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,’ US President Joe Biden said US President Joe Biden rebooted his effort to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) after an earlier campaign faltered, enlisting the support of G7 leaders at their summit in Germany. The Build Back Better World initiative, named after Biden’s domestic spending and climate agenda, struggled to get off the ground because not enough G7 partners contributed financially when it was unveiled a year ago, people familiar with its lack of progress said. “When democracies demonstrate what we can do — all that we have to offer — I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,” Biden said during
Three to four tropical storms or typhoons are expected to hit Taiwan this year due to a weak La Nina effect in the northwest Pacific Ocean, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday, as typhoon season begins next month. Taiwan’s typhoon season generally lasts from July to September, with most typhoons occurring in August. Weather Forecast Center Director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) told a news conference that a weakening La Nina is expected to have less of an effect on Taiwan. “The climate simulation we conducted, and those conducted by other meteorological agencies around the world, showed that the number of typhoons that
RSS