What happened during the awards ceremony has put the spotlight on the strange conditions experienced by athletes on the small island nation. But the IOC quickly smothered the incident: “There are very clear rules.”
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Lee Yang e Wang Chi-lin They won the first gold medal for Taiwan at the Paris 2024 Olympics: in the badminton doubles final they beat the Chinese pair (Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang). Both are smiling, they are proud of the sporting feat that has a great value for themselves and for the country that was admitted to the Games but with the ban on using its own name, flag and anthem.
What happened again, this time during the awards ceremony, has put the spotlight on the strange condition that athletes from the small island nation live in, something similar to the position of the refugee team or the Neutral Individual Athletes. But with an aggravating factor: in this case there is a country but, at least for the entire duration of the Games, it does not have to be officially listed.
In the stands, behind the podium, a spectator held up a sign showing the outline of Taiwan. A sort of white spot in the middle of a red sea of Chinese banners. He managed to show it for a few seconds, but the paper was immediately snatched from his hands by a steward.
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This also explains why the delegation is called Chinese Taipei and the banner displayed on the podium was different from the traditional one (a red field with a blue rectangle in which a white sun with twelve triangular rays stands out). What is the reason for this loophole? It is a political compromise that, in an already difficult moment for the international community, involves China claiming the island as its territory.
The spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Mark Adams, intervened to clarify that the episode, what was seen live on TV, is nothing more than what falls within the rules and conditions of entry to the Olympic venues indicated to spectators on each ticket. Those who enter the Olympic stadiums know that they can only display flags of the countries and territories participating in the games and prohibit any banner that conveys political messages.
It is the same reason why a Taiwanese student, who was watching a badminton match between her homeland team and China, had a banner taken away from her, which depicted the outline of her home island and bore the words “jiayou Taiwan” (Go Taiwan) in Chinese.
“I still had that message in my hands and I noticed a security man who continued to talk to his colleague on the walkie-talkie. Then a person came and took it away from me. We are not doing anything wrong. Why should we be treated this way?”.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry described the incident as violent, contrary to Olympic values and making it a diplomatic issue. In response, the IOC said there were “very clear rules” prohibiting banners.
2024-08-07 10:51:37
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