The National Sports Training Center (NSTC) opened in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營) yesterday. The facility is set to train athletes who are to compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and the 2017 Universiade in Taipei.
The center was previously known as the Zuoying Training Center and had been in use since 1976. Built on a former military base, the center was first used to train athletes competing in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
The government decided to start renovating run-down strucutres and building new facilities in 2010, with the first phase of construction completed in November last year. According to the Ministry of Education, the first phase of construction covered an area of 46,000m2 and cost approximately NT$1.97 billion (US$61.5 million).
As the Act for the Establishment of the National Sports Training Center (國家運動訓練中心設置條例) took effect on Thursday, the center is now also an administrative corporation under the supervision of the ministry.
The ministry yesterday hosted a plaque-unveiling ceremony for the center, attended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice Premier Simon Chang (張善政) Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) and other guests.
In a speech Ma said he was told that the center was on a property of 22 hectares, and there was a military property of about 16 hectares nearby. The Ministry of National Defense agreed to release the land to be used by the NSTC after cross-departmental negotiations, he said.
Ma said that he had served at the Zuoying naval base so was aware that that the weather would be perfect for athletic training, adding that more world-class athletes could be produced from the center with more upgraded infrastructure once the second-phase construction is complete.
The ministry said that as an administrative corporation the center now has more flexibility on personnel decisions, equipment acquisition and fundraising.
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