Former decathlete Ku Chin-shui (古金水) died of leukemia at National Taiwan University Hospital yesterday morning.
He was 56.
Ku was best-known for representing Taiwan at the Asian Athletics Championship several times and was the decathlon silver and gold medalist in 1983 and 1985 respectively.
He was also the decathlon gold medal winner at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.
His best performance in the pole vault was 5.05m, which broke the national record set by Olympian Yang Chuan-kwang (楊傳廣).
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Facebook that Ku was an extraordinary Taiwanese athlete, who dominated track and field both at home and overseas in the 1980s and 1990s. She said Ku was an ambassador for the sport.
Taiwanese athlete Chi Cheng (紀政) also posted an announcement about Ku’s death on Facebook.
She said Ku was able to hang on until yesterday because he was supported by his friends and his extraordinary will.
She said she was proud of him and he can rest from all the hardships in his life.
Born in 1960 in Hualien, Ku was an Amis Aborigine and began track-and-field training in junior-high school. He and another Taiwanese decathlete, Lee Fu-an (李福恩), jointly turned the 1980s into the golden age of track and field in Taiwan.
Ku was later accused of being involved in an explosion on a Uni Air flight in 1999.
Though he was acquitted of all charges in 2011, the lawsuit destroyed his athletic career. For a time, he was forced to take a job at a steel factory because nobody else would hire an alleged aircraft bomber.
Ku later became a coach at Taichung Municipal Chung Ming Senior High School in 2008.
He was diagnosed with leukemia at the end of 2014 and was undergoing bone marrow transplants and chemotherapy at the National Taiwan University Hospital.
Using a wheelchair, Ku participated in the New Year Walk hosted by Chi’s Hope Foundation earlier this year.
“It was painful to undergo the chemotherapy and I managed to get through the entire process with the will and determination of an athlete. I thank all of you for your support,” Ku said at the time, adding that his dream was to train more young athletes.
Three passengers and the assailant were reportedly injured in a knife attack on the Taichung MRT on Tuesday. The Rapid Transit Brigade of the Taichung Police Department is still investigating the incident, with no motive immediately apparent. Taichung Police Commissioner Lee Wen-chang (李文章) said that at least four people were injured in the attack, and the suspect has been taken into custody. The incident occurred at about 11:15am on a train car near Taichung City Hall Station. Witnesses reported seeing a man attacking others with a knife, while other passengers tried to grab his hair or fend him off with umbrellas. Three people were reportedly
‘OBNOXIOUS MAN’: The KMT’s Chen Ching-hui moved into Chung Chia-pin’s path atop the podium and reached for him before he grabbed at her legs with both hands Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said he slipped and lost his balance, and did not know who was around him, after jumping onto the speaker’s podium at the legislature in Taipei. He apologized after a collision with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who moved to intercept him as he mounted the podium. There was pushing and shoving when the session started in the morning as KMT lawmakers attempted to block access to the podium to shield Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) so he could preside over the session. Video footage showed Chung step on a chair and
While it is common to see bumper stickers informing other drivers about important information, such as “baby on board” or “rookie driver,” some motorist in Taiwan are using creative statements to warn other drivers to keep a safe distance to avoid a collision. A photograph recently circulating on the Internet showed a van in Changhua City with a bumper sticker saying that the driver received their license after taking the test three times, so it is dangerous to drive close to the vehicle. The person who took the photograph said all vehicles behind the van appeared to “subconsciously” maintaining a safe distance. Some
Taipei police on Saturday arrested 24 female Thai tourists on suspicion of working as hostesses and engaging in illegal activities at an underground bar in Zhongshan District (中山), the distict’s police precinct said in a statement yesterday. The police also arrested five other people involved in the operation, including the 29-year-old bar owner surnamed Chiang (蔣), and 17 customers, the statement said. The 24 Thai women were fined an undisclosed amount in accordance with the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) by the police and transferred to a National Immigration Agency (NIA) special brigade in Taipei for repatriation to Thailand. The cases of