In the wake of the recent "Taekwondo Incident" at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, the China Times published this article which continues to target the host nation as the root for Taiwan's failure to bring home medals from the games.
The full article in Chinese can be found HERE.
The English translation below is exclusively provided by Taiwan in Cycles.
An Unfortunate Event At Bike Race: Yi Fang Ru Loses Gold Medal After Losing Consciousness Following Fall
2010-11-17 China Times
Reporting from 中國廣州
“After working so hard for 4 years, the gold metal has just slipped away,” said the female cyclist Yi Fang Ru, who is a member of the Chinese Taipei cycling team attending the Asian Games. She fell from her bike and injured her head in the middle of the track event. Yi was knocked unconscious but still managed to return to her bike and keep riding. She finished in 4th place. When she regained consciousness again and realized that she had lost a chance to win the gold medal, she burst into tears.
Coach Yang witnessed the crash and placed the full blame on the Chinese cyclists. Yang claims they banked and clipped the Japanese cyclists’ handle bars, which caused the two Japanese cyclists to crash. Yi was riding right behind them, and Yi flipped over along with her bike, slamming her head into the ground.
Coach Yang said, “ I hurried to drag her to the side to try to revive her as she was already unconscious. I finally brought her around. If she did not take off again in 5 laps, she would have been disqualified. I encouraged her to keep on riding. When she got on her bike, she was not fully conscious yet and her whole body ached as if she were drunk. It took her over ten laps for her to become fully conscious again.”
Yi rode for another sixty laps and ended up earning 11 points, and therefore did not qualify for any medals. The winner of the gold medal was the Chinese cyclist, Liu Sin, with a score of 34 points. Coach Yang said Yi would have not been passed by other cyclists if she had not fallen off her bike. She could have at least won another 20 points (The cyclist who passes the most behind cyclist in every lap can earn points), which means she could have at least won the silver medal, or even the gold metal.
Coach Yang said, “ After a medical examination, we found that Yi had suffered a light concussion. Her waist is also swollen because of the accident. After receiving medical treatment, she is resting now back at the athlete’s village.” When Yi found out she did not win any medals, she broke into tears. Yi still has a road bike race on the 27th. Coach Yang said the concussion and waist injury are both not serious, but it would be lying if he said the injuries wouldn’t affect her future performance. However, Yi will still do her best because she has been in training for 4 years!
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First: I need to call into question the actions of the coach, in placing a cyclist who has just suffered a head injury and is demonstrating signs of a concussion back on the track where she could become a danger to herself and the other cyclists. That was simply reckless and irresponsible in the pursuit for glory.
Second: The finger pointing in this case is ridiculous. Much of it seems to be editorializing the news on the part of the China Times.
Third: The Taiwanese response to the Taekwondo issue and this issue really exposes an underlying sentiment of resentment and distrust and anxiety shared by the Taiwanese in viewing their relationship with China. It also points to an increasing feeling of disenfranchisement at the hands of China/Chinese and China-centric political actors. These are very real sentiments that transcend party alliances and reflect public opinion. Take heed.
As a little birthday present my wife bought me the Garmin Edge 500, which has recently been discounted due to the arrival of the new Garmin 800 (which is just too geeky for my needs). 