President Ma cheers on Taiwan’s Olympic athletes

The flag presentation ceremony was held at the national training center in Zuoying, Kaohsiung City, where top-notch Taiwanese athletes have been in intensive training.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ma expressed hope that the athletes will do their best to win glory for the nation during the upcoming global games.

Ma observed Taiwan’s taekwondo and badminton teams in training immediately after arriving at the center. He said he is confident that the nation’s delegation will be able to win more medals in Beijing than at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

“Disputes over the designation of Taiwan’s Olympic team... and its order of appearance at the opening ceremony have been resolved, “ Ma said. He voiced hope that there will be no controversies in the final run-up to the Games.

After negotiations between the ruling Kuomintang and the Beijing authorities, China agreed that the Chinese media will refer to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Zhonghua Taipei” in Chinese characters, rather than “Zhongguo Taipei” — which means “Taipei, China” and implies that Taiwan is a part of China.

As for the Taiwan sports team’s procession order at the Aug. 8 opening ceremony, Taiwan was officially notified Tuesday that it will be the 24th team to enter the stadium after Japan and before the Central African Republic and Hong Kong.

This arrangement was based on the number of strokes in the first character of each country’s Olympic designation in simplified Chinese script.

This model is different from past precedent, in which the processions were arranged in alphabetical order, according to which Taiwan was grouped under the “T” section based on a protocol signed in 1981.

Under the agreement signed between the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the “Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee” was abbreviated as “TPE” and thus be listed under the “T” section in the IOC’s directory.

According to a Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee official, Taiwan’s delegation, made up of 80 athletes, will compete in 15 sports — archery, baseball, cycling, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, badminton, tennis, track and field and weightlifting.

The first group of Taiwan athletes will head to Beijing Aug. 3.

Taiwanese athletes are seen as having the best chances of winning gold in the taekwondo, weightlifting, archery and tennis competitions, the official said.

The nation won two gold medals — both in taekwondo — two silvers and one bronze medal at the last Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens, ranking 31st in overall medal standings that year.

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