The Olympic Hopefuls

As I was doing some research with my upcoming interview with the Chinese, Taipei (Taiwan) Olympics team, there was a burning urge to jolt down these questions:

"Do you think of the Olympics being more than just an international sporting event?"

"What do you think of the French president boycotting the opening ceremony due to the uprising in Tibet? What do you think of Ma's (our president-to-be) previous comment on boycotting the Olympics if the issue in Tibet does not lighten up?"

"Do you remember that in 1976 Taiwan too boycotted the Olympics because Canada, the country that was holding the event, refused our name of entry as 'Republic of China'?"

Also in 1976, due to pressure from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Canada told the team from the Republic of China (Taiwan) that it could not compete at the Montreal Summer Olympics under the name "Republic of China" despite a compromise that would have allowed Taiwan to use the ROC flag and anthem. The Republic of China refused and as a result did not participate again until 1984, when it returned under the name "Chinese Taipei" and used a special flag.

When I found this passage on Wikipedia, I was elated, however, as I evaluated the whole incident, I came to realise that we didn't boycott it because we believed something but we were merely banned from our former name. Under the pressure from the PRC, we had to change our name to enable our athletes to compete in such great international event.

Like most countries, it's understandable that most of the athletes would be reluctant to pull out from the Olympics since that's what they've worked so hard for all their lives, and it would definitely be a pity for a place that its existence has been denied in so many parts of the world like Taiwan, to miss out another international event.

And despite the Olympics, most of Taiwan's athletes have a rather gloomy future in comparison to most advanced countries.

For most of them, except baseball players, no professional teams or programmes are available after they've finished their university or grad school. Many have voiced their concerns in upon their Olympics laurels. Chen Szu-yuan, an archery silver medallist in 2004 Athens Olympics said,

"My only worry is that next year I will graduate from graduate school and I will have to find a job. If my job doesn't allow me to train, then my archery career will come to an end. Taiwan has sponsors for table tennis, badminton and baseball. People are hired as staff members, but they are allowed to focus on training. I hope this can happen for archery as well."

Therefore, it is not so surprising to find them unwilling to pass on the opportunity for the Olympics, for it may also be their only chance to land on a contract with a big sports brand like Nike and secure their income for at least a few years before their medallist halo diminishes and left to their own device when they are in their mid-30s.

Even though it's really important that we all see to that China does the right thing at least during the summer this year, the chances of any changes seems slimmer than Posh Spice. Nonetheless, there is still hope to change the ways we treat our team of young hopefuls a bit better than what they are getting now before they turn into bitter old washed-ups with no national identity.