Chinese Taipei’s Sole Representative: Ma Chih-hung

VANCOUVER (GaeaTimes.com)- The Winter Olympics this year saw the entry of the Chinese Taipei once more. They had first taken part in the Olympics in the year 1984. Surprisingly enough, they had earlier marched in the Olympics with the flag of Taiwan, but this time, like most of the preceding years, they were allowed entry into the games only with the nomenclature Chinese Taipei. As the Chinese Taipei team marched into the BC Place Stadium in the presence of about 60,000 audience, the venue erupted in cheers, most in the audience oblivious to the long and bitter political struggle that had resulted in the creation of the name, and continued even after that.

The Chinese Taipei this year has only one competitor, and the same number of delegates. In fact, this is the year in a row that the country has sent up only one athlete to represent itself. The competitor is a Luger named Ma Chih-hung. Having trained in different parts of Germany and Austria, Ma Chih-hung was named the youngest male Luger in Italy. This is the second time that he is competing in the Olympics.

Surprisingly enough, Ma Chih-hung was not into Luge at all initially. He was a professional track and field athlete, and came into Luge much later. Admittedly, being the only representative of the Chinese Taipei has certain disadvantages, something that has manifested itself in the fact that he has no team to practice with. Therefore, most of the time he has to team up with athletes from other countries. Recognizing that he is Chinese Taipei’s only hope of bringing home Olympic gold, Ma Chih-hung admits to learning from his earlier experiences.