The Sports Affairs Council (SAC) has proposed spending NT$1 billion (US$31.7 million) on a preparatory program for the 2012 London Olympics as part of its budget for next year, which was submitted to the legislature yesterday.
The proposal comes in the wake of a disappointing performance by Taiwanese athletes at the Beijing Olympics.
The council said NT$100 million would be allocated for the first year of the 2012 prep plan.
In addition, it proposed spending a total of NT$5.6 billion next year on increasing participation in sports, reinforcing training for athletes, building sports facilities and bidding to host international events and to join international sports organizations.
It said it hopes Taiwanese athletes would achieve inspiring performances in international games and win more medals.
It plans to build 10 sports centers next year to help realize President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) promise of building 70 sports centers during his four-year tenure.
Eighty athletes took part in 15 events at the Beijing Games, but only four bronze medals were won, two in taekwando and two in weightlifting — the worst showing since 1988. Taiwanese had been hoping for a repeat of the 2004 Olympics, when they won two gold, two silver and one bronze.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
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