Sports Administration Director-General Ho Jow-fei yesterday appealed for divine intervention at a church in Rio de Janeiro, asking God to help Taiwan win two more gold medals before the end of the Olympic Games.
Ho, who is in Brazil with the nation’s Olympic athletes, made an impromptu visit to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, where he sought a blessing to end the perceived adversity, bad luck and misfortune that appears to have befallen the nation’s athletes over the past two weeks.
Like a devoted pilgrim, Ho reportedly went before the high altar to pray among visitors and local faithful.
Photo: Wang Yuan-hong, Taipei Times
“I do not have any particular religious affiliation, but I read that more than 90 percent of people in Brazil are Catholics or Protestant Christians, so we wanted come to Rio’s big cathedral to pray,” Ho said. “It is like in Taiwan when we go to temples for ritual ceremonies.”
The sports chief said that he prayed to God “to grant us gold medals in both the women’s golf and taekwondo,” as they are the two remaining Olympic events in which Taiwanese athletes are still competing.
Before leaving for Brazil, Ho and other top sports officials predicted that Taiwan’s Rio delegation would win six Olympic medals — three gold, two silver and one bronze.
However, after winning one gold and two bronze on the first three days of competition, Taiwan’s team has suffered a sustained medal drought, with the dry spell lasting for almost two weeks as many highly rated athletes fell by the wayside, suffered mishaps or did not perform to their expected levels.
Broadcasters and some commentators in the sports media have called the nation’s results “disappointing,” pointing to certain events where Taiwanese athletes should have advanced further, but were eliminated in the early rounds.
Taiwan’s delegation has also seen controversy, verbal feuds and clashes between officials, athletes and sponsors.
Top-ranked female singles tennis player Hsieh Su-wei formally withdrew from the Games on Monday last week after weeks of conflict between the athlete, Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and Chinese Taipei Tennis Association.
Meanwhile, the national badminton body has been criticized after reports that the nation’s top-ranked female player, Tai Tzu-ying , might face censure over her choice in shoes and other apparel.
Ho said that it was against this backdrop that he decided to seek divine protection and blessing.
“Taiwanese athletes are giving their best efforts and we had the joy of a gold medal early on,” he said. “But many unfortunate things kept on happening to us, which were serious blows to the team’s morale. So I prayed for God to bless us and to prevent any more mishaps from taking place.”
One unfortunate case involved female marathon runner Chen Yu-hsuan, who said she could not stomach the “terrible food” on offer at the Olympic Village and had diarrhea the day before her event.
Chen told reporters that she was in pain and had almost collapsed when running. She ended the race in 127th place.
Veteran golfer Lin Wen-tang also encountered unfavorable conditions in his first round of the men’s golf event.
Lin got wet in the rain and came down with a cold, and also sustained a cut to his head when he ran into a tree branch.
Despite seeking treatment, Lin was in worse shape the following day and vomited on the course.
He was in such a weak condition that he could not continue and withdrew from the competition. He finished in last place.
Many sports experts and media commentators have criticized Ho’s action, saying that instead of asking God for divine intervention, he should be trying to reform the system that governs sport in Taiwan.
They said that the nation’s athletes have been underperforming and losing out to other countries because Taiwan is full of “governing bodies.”
They said that these governing bodies are filled with fat-cat patronage appointees and people connected to political parties, whose primary concerns are profiteering through commercial sponsorship deals and retaining their autocratic rule over the athletes.
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