Protesters yesterday threw eggs at images of Taiwanese speedskater Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷) and the Chinese flag outside the Sports Administration building in Taipei.
Members of the Taiwan Republic Office staged the event to protest Olympic flagbearer Huang, who on Thursday posted pictures of herself online wearing the China national team’s skinsuit.
Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵), who was last year confined to his home for throwing eggs at a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), called for the resignation of national sports officials over the incident, calling it a “political scandal” that she was allowed to carry the Chinese Taipei flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee
Chen threw two eggs at a placard of Huang’s image and the Chinese flag, accompanied by a picture of Acting Sports Administration Director-General Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟).
Four members from Chen’s organization then stomped on egg-splattered images of Huang, Lin and China’s flag.
“Huang not only would not apologize, but arrogantly wrote online: ‘You people don’t need to support me’ and ‘There is no issue of nationality in sports’ in response to criticism, which further angered the public,” Chen said.
He said that the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) and the Sports Administration exacerbated the issue by selecting Huang as one of Taiwan’s flagbearers at the opening ceremony, as did Lin’s attempts to defend Huang.
“Despite politicians urging Huang not to carry the flag, sports officials and the CTOC stubbornly stuck to their choice, and tried to whitewash the whole incident,” Chen said. “We demand an explanation from Lin and Huang, and if not, then Lin should resign.”
Lan Kun-ten (藍坤田), the Sports Administration’s director of competitive athletics, accepted a letter from Chen at the protest.
“It is the duty of my office to help athletes, and we shall from now on strive to provide education programs on such issues,” Lan said.
Huang yesterday finished 26th in the women’s 1,500m speedskating event in Beijing in 2 minutes and 0.78 seconds.
She still has the 500m and 1,000m events to race at the Games.
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