The Deaflympics gold medalists came together to share their glory

    As 2022 the 24^th Deaflympics came to a close, Taiwan’s delegation had won 3 gold, 13 silver and 14 bronze medals, the medal haul exceeded the medals won last time (4 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals) and second only to the Deaflympics held in Taipei in 2009. This was not only a rich medal harvest, it also showed the efficacy of the Program for Nurturing Disabled Upcoming Athletes With Potential. The Sports Administration invited the gold medalists to come together to share their glory with everyone.

     The Sports Administration invited Deaflympics gold medalists Hsu Le (athletics,) Lin Chia-wen and He Chiu-mei (tennis women’s doubles) and Hsieh Sheng-fu and Chen Chien-hao (bowling men’s doubles) to attend the regular press conference to share their glory and joy of winning and look forward to continuing to have success in international deaf sports. All the athletes are looking forward to the next international multi-sport competition the 2024 Asia Pacific Deaf Games, hoping to exceed their limits and achieve good results once more.

     The Deaflympics is an international multi-sport competition held every four years, and is the highest pantheon of deaf sports. The 24^th edition was planned for 2021, however, affected by COVID-19, it was delayed until to May 1-15, 2022, held in Caxias do Sul, Brazil; the bowling event was further delayed to October 20-30 because of host city venue issues and was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Taiwan sent 51 athletes to take part in the nine sports including athletics, tennis, table tennis, badminton, basketball, shooting, karate, taekwondo and bowling and bagged 3 gold, 13 silver and 14 bronze medals; the excellent performance was second only to the 2009 Taipei Deaflympics (33 medals).

     The bowling team won 1 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze medals, more than any other Taiwanese team and lived up to the name “Deaflympics medal bank”; the athletics team also performed well, winning 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals. In particular, third year high school student Hsu Le won a gold medal in the 100 meter hurdles (breaking the games record) and a bronze medal in the 100 meters ( breaking the deaf U20 world record). Taiwan had three athletes each in tennis and shooting teams and won 4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) and 3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze,), respectively ranking high in medal winning rate. Medals were also won by the table tennis, badminton and karate teams, the teams performed well.

     The Sports Administration said that as this edition of the Deaflympics took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, forming a delegation and taking part in competition had more variables and challenges ever than before. Luckily, athletes continued to prepare during the pandemic and were able to showcase the results of their training during competition, winning 30 medals, more than the previous edition. The Program for Nurturing Disabled Upcoming Athletes With Potential has been implemented since 2020; Six athletes who have benefitted from the Program were in the Taiwan delegation for the Deaflympics this time; apart from Hsu Le, young shooter Hsu Ming-rui won a bronze medal in his first appearance at the event, showing the effectiveness of the Program. In the future, the Sports Administration will continue to provide the resources athletes and coaches need and to become the most solid backup for Taiwan’s delegation, in order for Taiwan’s athletes to be even more successful on the Deaflympics stage in the future.