The Taipei New Construction Office yesterday said that the refurbished track at the Taipei Municipal Stadium this week earned Class 1 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Certified Athletics Facility status.
Work on the track at the facility on Dunhua N Road was completed on Wednesday last week and the facility was awarded the IAAF certification on Tuesday, the office said.
The stadium is to play an important role in the Summer Universiade in August, as it is to be the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as an events arena and practice facility for track-and-field athletes, the office said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The office has been revamping the stadium since last year to conform to standards set by the International University Sports Federation, which oversees the Universiade.
Installing a new track involved excavating the old one, making the work highly susceptible to rain, the office said.
Thanks to streamlined efforts by office employees and a contractor, the completion date was moved forward almost two months from the schedule, it said.
Besides the refurbished track, work to upgrade the facility included the placement of straight tracks, adjustments to the length of runways, as well as the addition of a sandpit and a shot put field, while a springboard was installed in the pool area for diving competitions, it said.
The material used along part of the track in the warm-up area has been changed from grass to synthetic rubber, the office said.
Lights have been installed to provide spectators with a more comfortable experience when they watch competitions at night, the office said.
The refurbishment cost NT$110 million (US$3.6 million), the office said.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday inspected the refurbished arena.
The mayor took to the track, where he was joined by professional runners in a demonstration race.
However, shortly after he set out, Ko lost his balance and tumbled, prompting laughter and gasps.
Asked by reporters whether he sustained any injuries, Ko said: “I am fine. The track is really nice, very bouncy.”
He said that the fall was due to him skipping the warm-up and the fact that he had not run for a long time.
Two lessons he learned from the fall was that one should always be well prepared and professionals should be respected, Ko said.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
RSS