Culture / Jul. 17, 2021
After almost five years of waiting, the world's most anticipated sporting competition, the Olympic Games, a mega-event that brings together the world's best athletes to compete against each other across 35 sporting categories, 53 disciplines, and about 400 events for the highly coveted titles of the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals is finally almost around the corner. Originally scheduled to be hosted in Tokyo, Japan in the summer of 2020, the prestigious sporting event had to be delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that affected almost the entire world for much of last year. And despite continuous debates and protests for its postponement and cancellation, the nation of Japan has finally decided to go ahead with the games from 23 July to 8 August 2021.
For this year's competition, Taiwan has successfully bagged a total of 66 seats across 18 sporting categories to showcase the talent, ability, and sportsmanship of its finest athletes. So let us extend our best wishes to each and every one of these players so that they are able to do their very best to bring home the crowning medals and put Taiwan's name and prestige up on the international sporting arena. With this. GagaTai takes the opportunity to introduce our dearest readers to 12 of the latest and greatest athletes from Taiwan who are best known for their unmatched gaming abilities, sportsmanship spirit, and drooly-worthy, statuesque bodies. Fellas, you certainly don't want to miss this one!
P.S., please don't forget to tune into the live broadcast of the Olympic games from 23 July to 8 August 2021. and support our beloved players. Let's go, Taiwan! We can do it.
（Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei, Instagram, and 組合圖）
1. Yang, Yung-Wei (Judo Men’s 60kg)
(Source: Instagram and Taiwan Mobile Co. Ltd.)
Yang, Yung-Wei, a member of the aboriginal tribe of Paiwan, is the highest-ranking judo athlete in all of Taiwan. Widely known as Taiwan's "Judo Idol", Yung-Wei just recently earned his qualification to compete in the Olympic Games from the International Judo Federation in June of 2021 where he successfully grabbed the 11th spot on the federation's ranking and was finally able to obtain his ticket to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. We for one can't wait for Yung-Wei's performance at the games.
UPDATE: Yang Yung-wei took home the Silver medal for the 60-kg judo final at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, 23 July 2021 officially claiming Taiwan's first medal of the games.
Medal Record: Asian Oceania Judo Championships 2021 Silver medal in the 60kg category.
For more on Yung-Wei, follow: www.instagram.com/yangyungwei/
2. Huane, Yu-Jen (Taekwondo Men’s 68kg)
（Source: Instagram and Taiwan National Sports Training Center）
A graduate of the prestigious National Changhua University of Education Department of Sports, Huane, Yu-Jen is a rising Taiwanese taekwondo athlete who won second place in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and a silver medal at the group contest in the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei. Blessed with what we would call "the picture-perfect babyface", don't let Yu-Jen's angel-like looks fool you for Yu-Jen is a completely different person once he gets his dobok on.
Medal Record: 2014 Incheon Asian Games second place and 2017 Summer Universiade Silver medal in the group contest.
For more on Yu-Jen, follow: www.instagram.com/yujentkd/
3. “Rendy” Lu, Yen-Hsun (Tennis Men’s Single)
（Source: Instagram and Adidas Taiwan）
Lu, Yen-Hsun, better known as "Rendy Lu", is a Taiwanese professional tennis player, who has made an unprecedented number of records in the tennis history of Taiwan over his two-decade-long sporting career. Not only has Rendy won a total of 29 ATP Challenger Tour Championship in the Men’s Single category, the highest for any tennis player in the world, but he was also awarded the distinguished title of "Ten Excellent Young People of the Year" award by the Junior Chamber International of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was in June that Lu announced that the 2021 Wimbledon Championships and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics would be his last tournaments on the tour thereby wishing to retire completely from the tennis industry and instead focus on passing down his outstanding legacy to the next generation.
Medal Record: 29 ATP Challenger Tour Championships and 8 ITF Men’s Circuit Championships
For more on Rendy, follow: www.instagram.com/lurendy/
4. Yang, Chun-Han (Men’s 100m Sprint)
（Source: Adidas Taiwan and Instagram)
A member of the indigenous Amis tribe from Hualien, the east coast of Taiwan, Yang, Chun-Han is a Taiwanese aboriginal track and field athlete specializing in the sport of sprinting. The prestigious title holder of “The fastest man in Taiwan”, Chun-Han is currently a student at the National Taiwan University of Sport and held the position of the flag bearer for Taiwan in both the 2014 Youth Olympic Games and the 2017 Summer Universiade. Known for his unbending attitude towards his passion for sprinting, Chun-Han has managed to leave a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of his many followers for his godlike, lighting speed.
Medal Record: 2014 Youth Olympic Games Bronze medal in the 200m sprint and 2017 Summer Universiade Golden medal in the 100m sprint.
For more on Chun-Han, follow: www.instagram.com/hank_yang_tw/
5. Chen, Kuei-Ru (Men’s 110m Sprint Hurdles)
（Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei and Instagram）
Hailing from the Yunlin, the west coast of Taiwan, Chen, Kuei-Ru is a "record-breaking" Taiwanese track and field athlete competing in sprint hurdles. A graduate of the National Taiwan Sport University, Kuei-Ru won the silver medal and broke the national record with a speed of 13.55 seconds in the 110m Sprint hurdles in the 2017 Summer Universiade. In the 2018 National Intercollegiate Athletic Games, he once again broke the national record he had a set year ago at the 2017 Summer Universiade. And in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, he then again broke his national record with a speed of 13.39 seconds in the 100m sprint hurdles This time, Kuei-Ru once again represents Taiwan in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics Games. So let us hope that he will once again break his own record and do all of us Taiwanese proud!
Medal Record: 2017 Summer Universiade Silver medal in the 110m sprint hurdles and 2018 Jakarta Asian Games Silver medal in the 100m sprint hurdles.
For more on Kuei-Ru, follow: www.instagram.com/kueiruchen_1/
6. Chen, Chieh (Men’s 400m Sprint Hurdles)
（Source: Adidas Taiwan and Instagram）
Chen, Chieh is an aboriginal track and field sports figure from the Amis tribe of Taichung in central Taiwan. As a professional sprint hurdles athlete, Chieh broke both his personal and national record at the 400m sprint hurdles event in the 2015 Asian Championships with a record of 49.68 seconds which later had him qualified to compete for the 400m sprint hurdles category at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in Brazil. Chieh will once again compete at the Olympic Games this week in Tokyo, Japan and we cannot wait to see how he will perform this time around.
Medal Record: 2017 Summer Universiade Silver medal in the 400m sprint hurdles and 2019 Asian Championships second place in the 400m spring hurdles.
For more on Chen, Chieh, follow: www.instagram.com/chiehchen_tw/
7. Cheng, Chato-Tsun (Men’s Javelin Throw)
（Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei and Instagram）
A Taiwanese of Hakka origin, Cheng, Chato-Tsun is a track and field athlete specializing in javelin throw from Taoyuan city of northwestern Taiwan. If any of you had followed Chato-Tsun's performance in the 2017 Summer Universiade, you wouldn't have been able to forget him for his jaw-dropping, record-breaking throw of 91.36 meters in the javelin throw event in the competition. As the first-ever Asian to ever to throw a javelin beyond 90 meters, the furthest record in all of Asia to date, we eagerly wait and see how “far” can Chato-Tsun go in this year’s Tokyo Olympics Games.
Medal Record: 2017 Summer Universiade Gold medal in javelin throwing (800gms)
For more on Chato-Tsun, follow: www.instagram.com/chaotsun_cheng/
8. Wang, Kuan-Hung (Men’s 100m and 200m Butterfly)
（Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei and Instagram）
Wang, Kuan-Hung is a Taiwanese professional swimmer who successfully broke the national record in the 200m butterfly event at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in 2019, which consequently made him eligible for the Olympics "A" standard, an official qualification to directly enter and compete at the Olympics Games. As the second Taiwanese to ever achieve the Olympics A standard, Kuan-Hing was recently awarded the title of "Best Male Athlete" at the Sports Elite Awards in Taiwan. We eagerly wait to see his "butterfly-like" performance in the pool at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics this week.
Medal Record: Fourth place in the 200m butterfly in the 2018 Youth Olympics Games and a national record in the 200m butterfly in the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships 2019.
For more on Kuan-Hung, follow: www.instagram.com/eddie_wang123/
9. Wang, Hsing-Hao (Men’s 200m and 400m Medley)
（Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei and Instagram)
Hailing from a family of professional swimmers, Wang, Hsing-Hao was inspired to pick up swimming at a very young age by his father, who too was a swimmer in his heydays. A current-day student at the National Taiwan University of Sport, Hsing-Hao was often bullied for being small and petite in size while growing up. However, with his determination to grow bigger and better, Hsing-Hao never gave up on his swimming training. and as time passed by, Hsing-Hao's effort eventually started to pay off. Not only did Hsing-Hao managed to grow in width, height, and frame but he also triumphantly broke the national record for men’s freestyle swimming in the 2017 Summer Universiade. In a continuing spree, Hsing-Hao, then, went on to smash two other national records for the categories of men’s 400m freestyle swimming and 400m medley swimming in the FINA World Swimming Championships
Medal Record: 2019 Summer Universiade Bronze medal in the 200m single medley.
For more on Hsing-Hao, follow: www.instagram.com/w.hsinghao/
10. Lee, Chih Kai (Men’s Artistic Gymnastics)
(Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei and Business Today)
Lee, Chih Kai is a Taiwanese male artistic gymnast who has represented Taiwan in several international competitions and events and is most renowned for his near-to-perfect performance of the “Thomas Flare” on the Pommel horse. However, besides being a professional gymnast, Chih Kai has also made a stint in acting with his participation in the 2005 Taiwanese movie Jump! Boys, catapulting him and his skills in gymnastics into instant stardom. Chih Kai is the only gymnast in the history of Taiwan to ever win a Gold medal in Gymnastics in the Summer Universiade games. Elsewhere, he also won a Gold medal in the pommel horse category at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, making it yet another historic moment for Taiwan.
Medal Record: 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Silver medal in the Pommel horse category, 2019 Summer Universiade Artistic Gymnastics Gold medal in the Pommel horse category.
For more on Chih Kai, follow: www.instagram.com/chihkai0403/
10. Wang, Tzu-Wei (Men’s Badminton Single)
（Source: National Olympic Committee Taipei and Instagram)
A native resident of the capital city of Taipei, Taiwan, Wang, Tzu-Wei is a Taiwanese badminton player. Having picked up the habit of playing badminton as a kid as a result of the influence of his brother, Tzu-Wei won the championship for both the Asian and World national team trails games for three consecutive years, a feat he managed to achieve while he was still in high school making Tzu-Wei the first and only high school student in the history of Taiwan to have ever done so. We cannot wait to see Tzu-Wei outshine his fellow competitors at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this week.
Medal Record: Gold medals in the men's singles and team events in the 2017 Summer Universiade.
For more on Tzu-Wei, follow: www.instagram.com/wangtzuwei0227/
10. Pan, Cheng-Tsung (Men’s Golf)
（Source: Instagram and LT Sports）
Last not but least, we have Pan, Cheng-Tsung, a Taiwanese professional golfer, who currently resides in the States. Cheng-Tsung won the golf championship in the 2019 PGA Tour RBC Heritage Game and thereafter went on to achieve a record of eight championships of college golf tournaments during his time at the University of Washington. In 2020, Cheng-Tsung appeared in the Masters' Tournament and soon became the best-record holder ever in history among all golf players of Chinese descent. We have to say that once you see the curve after Cheng-Tsung hits the little white ball, you will most definitely be mesmerized by his charm.
Medal Record: Gold medals in both golf single and team games at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
For more on Cheng-Tsung, follow: www.instagram.com/ctpan63/
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