Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) and breakdancer Sun Chen (孫振) on Friday carried the flag for Taiwan during the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Paris.
They were joined by 37 Taiwanese athletes and coaching staff on a boat that sailed down the Seine, marking the first time in Olympic history that the ceremony did not take place in a stadium.
The boat, the 74th to sail into view, was also carrying the national delegations of Tajikistan, Tanzania and Chad, which is known as Tchad in France.
Photo: Reuters
Sun, also known as “B-Boy Quake,” is one of 21 Taiwanese making their Olympic debut in Paris.
The Taiwanese delegation consists of 60 athletes in 16 disciplines.
Prior to the Games, veteran commentator Chen Kai (陳楷), who has covered four Olympic Games, said not to expect Taiwanese to fare as well as they did in Tokyo, when they won 12 medals in 10 sports.
Paris would be the last chance for fans to see two badminton stars, former world No. 1 Tai and Tokyo men’s doubles gold medalist Lee Yang (李洋), represent Taiwan at the Olympics, as both have announced they would retire after this season.
Tennis veteran Latisha Chan (詹詠然) has also said this would be her final Olympic appearance, while table tennis veteran Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵), who has competed in every Olympics since Athens in 2004, might also be competing in his last Games.
Also potentially concluding their Olympic careers due to their ages and other reasons are badminton player Chou Tien-chen (周天成), judoka Lien Chen-ling (連珍羚) and shooter Lei Chien-ying (雷千瑩).
Of the 60 Taiwanese set to compete in Paris, 21 would make their Olympic debut, the fewest since the “Chinese Taipei” era began in 1984.
The number of athletes headed to Paris is two fewer than in Tokyo, suggesting a decline in overall competitiveness, Chen said.
Over the past few years, the team had grown from 44 in London in 2012, to 55 in Rio de Janeiro and 68 in Tokyo.
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