Sat, Feb 09, 2002 page15

• Taiwan gets off to false start in Utah

  SHAME Two members of the country's Olympic team could not make the opening ceremony because of a cash row, spoiling what should have been a rare display of unity

  • By Jules Quartly / CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
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  Taiwan was minus two athletes when it marched into Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium yesterday for the Games' opening ceremony because of a spat over money.

  Their absence in Salt Lake City, Utah, has cast a further shadow over what should have been a ray of light on the nation's sporting map.

  Neither Chen Chin-san (陳金山) or Chen Chien-sheng (陳建盛) of Taiwan's bobsled team were there because of a fallout with the government over cash to compete in the Games.

  Taiwan's athletes had complained about the government reneging on promises to provide a bobsled, traveling expenses, equipment and uniforms for the competition.

  The threatened boycott of the Games was narrowly averted when the National Council of Physical Fitness and Sports brokered an eleventh-hour agreement with the athletes.

  As a result, however, the two athletes canceled their travel plans and missed the opening ceremony.

  They are scheduled to fly out today with Chinese Taipei Amateur Luge and Bobsleigh Association Honorary President Hsu Chi-you (許啟祐).

  They will join Taiwan's other athletes and officials, who are already at the Olympic village.

  "I think we have lost a good chance to showcase Taiwan's Olympic spirit," Hsu said. "It is a shame that due to the argument we are not at the opening of the Games."

  In a phone call to the Taipei Times from the US, bobsled team member Steve Lee said the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee was to blame for the problems that had arisen.

  "It [the Olympic committee] has a monopoly on power. Before has a monopoly on power. Before the Olympics start we have to deal with the sports council," he said. "But after qualification, then we are under the Olympic committee and that sucks."

  Lee compared the situation in Taiwan with the US, where the Olympic committee is responsible for funding and finding sponsors for its athletic teams.

  "In Taiwan it's the other way round and the athletes have to get to the Olympics by finding money themselves.

  "Everyone in Taiwan, including the press, is afraid of criticizing these officials," Lee said. "We want more sport and less bureaucracy."

  There are 14 officials and seven athletes in this year's delegation to the Winter Games.

  In Nagano, Japan, four years ago, Taiwan sent 11 athletes to the Winter Games, along with 33 of its officials.

  In a statement to the Taipei Times, the Olympic committee said yesterday that it was responsible for "obtaining the budget required for participation in the Olympic Winter Games."

  But, "[It] is not liable to assist the sport association with training or preparing for qualifications."

  The Olympic committee said the bobsled association and "entrepreneurs or elites in our society" were supposed to fund the sport and provide a bobsled, uniform and equipment for its Winter Games teams.

  "As we know, due to the limitations of our geography and climate, it is not easy to develop winter sports in Taiwan."

  The Olympic committee is backing a recent sports council initiative that agreed to focus most of its funding on sports that stood a chance of Olympic success.

  "However, in order to promote all winter sports and to fulfill our obligations as members of the Olympic family, we still encourage the sports associations concerned to train more elite athletes to compete ... in the Games," the Olympic committee said.

  "We believe that audiences and friends in overseas countries will give their full support to our team, although our athletes are still far behind the best in the world."
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