Controversy over Taiwanese speedskater Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷) wearing the China national team’s skinsuit continued as Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) yesterday said that Huang lacked awareness of her role as the flagbearer of the Taiwanese team at the Beijing Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony last night.
Huang, one of the four athletes competing for Taiwan at this year’s Winter Olympics, faced a backlash on social media on Thursday after posting a training video of her wearing a Chinese national team skinsuit.
Hsu yesterday said that Huang’s choice of uniform was extremely inappropriate, given that she is Taiwan’s flagbearer and that the Five Eyes countries — the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia — are not sending representatives to the Games.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Hsu said Huang was free to be the commercial ambassador for a Chinese in-line skate brand, but that she made an error in judgement wearing China’s national team skinsuit.
Huang responded on Thursday, writing on Facebook that the uniform was a gift from a friend on the Chinese team.
“There is no nationality in the world of sports. Every athlete is a friend when we are not competing against each other,” she wrote.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday that it is his understanding of international sports culture that team members exchange uniforms as gifts to different national teams.
Ko suggested that since the incident has passed, “we could gift each member of the Chinese team one of Taiwan’s team uniforms.”
Huang’s father, Huang Jin-lung (黃錦龍), commented on Thursday about his hosting of an in-line skating summer camp in China in 2018.
He said that he promoted skating as a sport in different countries, and that he did not focus his efforts solely in China, nor was he doing so for profit.
Any mention of his profits were rumors, he said.
The 33-year-old Huang Yu-ting is scheduled to compete in the speed skating women’s 1,500m event on Monday, the 500m on Feb. 13, and the 1,000m on Feb. 17.
Meanwhile, announced as "Chinese Taipei," Huang and skier Ho Ping-jui (何秉睿) carried the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics at the National Stadium in Beijing last night.
Additional reporting by Kuo An-chia and CNA
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
RSS