Mon, Jan 21, 2002 page15

• Tough runnings for Taiwan's Olympians

  It's not easy being a Winter Games athlete in Taiwan, as the nation's luge and bobsled teams have found to their cost

  • By Jules Quartly / CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
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  Taiwan's Olympic hopes are skating on thin ice ahead of the opening ceremony at next month's Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

  Bickering over financial support for the nation's bobsled and luge teams threatens to spoil what should be a unique chance to compete on the world's biggest sporting stage.

  Around 3.5 billion people are expected to tune in on Feb. 8 when the Games officially begin, but Taiwan's Olympians feel they have been frozen out by their own government.

  They claim the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, in particular, is taking them for a ride.

  Stealing the limelight

  "We have qualified for the Olympics all on our own," the Honorary Chairman of the Taiwan Luge and Bobsled Association Hsu Chi-you (許啟祐) said. "Despite all the difficulties, we overcame them and now we will compete at the Olympics."

  Hsu, however, is bitter and claimed that even though the bobsled and luge teams had achieved qualification for the Olympics without much government backing, the Olympic committee will now take the credit and send an eight-member "observation team" to the US.

  "Every four years the [Olympic committee] waits to find out whether we have qualified for the Games and then they vote themselves money to go to the Olympics," Hsu said.

  Neither Hsu or any other member of the bobsled and luge association will attend the Games. "We have been working for four years and spent all our money to achieve this, but we will not be able to go," he said.

  The Taipei Times has contacted the Olympic committee about the issue, but the group has not responded.

  Lee Chia-chan (李嘉展), a bobsled team member, said sports in Taiwan was in the dark ages.

  "Everyone knows that sports in Taiwan is no good and that someone is needed to shed light on this fact," Lee said.

  He said the National Council of Physical Education and Sports had decided at a meeting last week to concentrate on just 12 sports.

  "They say these are the main sports we should develop. ... Unless you stand a chance of getting a gold medal then it is not a sport.

  "This is okay for communist China which is not democratic -- but not here in Taiwan, surely. It is a misleading idea of sportsmanship for the sports council to be only concerned with medals."

  Ironically, considering the fact Taiwan is a tropical country, its bobsled and luge teams have been pretty successful over the years.

  Its luge team has attended the Winter Games since 1976 and the bobsled team has qualified every four years since 1984. In that year it came fourth in a World Cup event.

  Taiwan's bobsled team is the best in Asia and the team's driver, Chen Chin-shan (陳金山) will be competing in his fourth Olympics next month -- a record for the country.

  "Though we always attend the Olympic Games the sports council gives us only 0.08 percent of the funding that is available to sports associations. How can this fair?" Lee said.

  "They never consider us. We have an old and decrepit bobsled that does not meet International Olympic Committee regulations, we have no facilities and limited assistance."

  Lee said he feared the bobsled that has been rented will not come up to scratch either.

  Pyrrhic victory

  The team has made it to the Olympics -- a victory in itself -- by digging deep into its own pockets to compete in European qualifying events.

  It costs around US$600 per run for the Taiwan team to compete in qualifying events in Europe and the luge and bobsled association's government funding of just over NT$500,000 for last year was used up on just one competition.

  Two athletes were injured during these qualification runs -- one suffered a broken collar bone -- but it cannot even afford a medical team for the Games.

  There has even been disagreement over the flag-handing-over ceremony for the teams' Olympians, with claims that the government has not adequately recognized their sporting achievements.

  The National Council of Physical Education and Sports has confirmed that a flag-handing-over ceremony will take place, but said its chairman, Hsu Yi-hsiung (許義雄) will do the honors -- not the president, as is traditional.

  "We risk life and limb for our country," Lee said, "but they do not respect this."

  Bobsled and luge are dangerous sports. Riders will hurtle down an ice-covered track at speeds of up to 140kph and experience G-forces similar to an F-16 fighter going into a dive.

  A four-man bobsled team comprises a driver at the front and a brakeman at the back.

  The other two are called side-push men. One other team member is necessary because of the likelihood of injury.

  At the start of their run, they will push-start the sled and jump in. The weight of the sled and gravity will pull them through a series of turns and straight sections to the bottom of the run.

  There will be four runs which are timed to .01 of a second. The final standings are determined by the total time taken by the team over the four runs, with the winner having the lowest aggregate time.

  Finding the best racing line is the key to bobsledding and the role of driver Chen Chin-shan is critical.

  He must struggle with a violently unstable bobsled and keep it on a path that will achieve the fastest time down the run.

  On the right track

  He must keep the sled high enough on the track to maintain speed, but not too high -- otherwise the sled will fly off the track.

  Chen must also keep the sled low enough on the track to travel the shortest possible distance.

  To steer, the driver holds ropes connected to four polished steel runners. Most drivers wear gloves, but some steer bare-handed to have a better feel for the ropes.

  Crew members shift weight to help the driver steer and though they can't see the track ahead they learn the timing of a particular run's curves.

  The competition is spread over two days and around 45 teams from nearly 20 countries have qualified for the competition.

  Taiwan's bobsled team does not have much of a hope of winning, but it does have the Olympic spirit of competition.

  Luge and bobsled chairman Hsu said that realistically Taiwan was likely to be placed in the bottom 20 teams, but it was aiming for a top-20 position.

  Its luge team still needs to pick up points to qualify for the Salt Lake City finals.

  Lee has a cure for Taiwan's Olympic ills and the medicine is private sponsorship. "Then the NT$600 million that is given to sports associations every year can be used to help the jobless situation."

  This year, however, the remedy will not arrive in time.
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