TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Fresh from having won her historic medal in Olympic karate, Taiwan's Wen Tzu-yun (文姿云) revealed that she has accepted a marriage proposal and that her fiancee is her training partner and long-term boyfriend.
On Thursday (Aug. 5), Wen fought her way to the semifinals of the Women's 55-kg kumite category of the karate competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Wen bounced back from a loss to the eventual gold medalist, Bulgaria's Ivet Goranova, to win two matches in a row to send her to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Wen squared off with world No. 1 Ukraine's Anzhelika Terliuga for a shot at the gold medal round. The epic back and forth battle that ensued was tied 4 to 4 with only one second left.
In the final clash, Wen appeared to have landed a roundhouse kick to Terliuga's face. Taiwan requested a replay to see if the kick scored a winning three points.
However, in a move that became highly controversial in Taiwan, the referee denied the request and threw up the decision to the judges, who unanimously voted in favor of the Ukrainian. The Olympic karate kumite competition does not require participants to fight for the bronze medal and instead awards two of them.
Therefore, Wen was awarded the bronze medal, the first for Taiwan in Olympic karate, which is being held for the first time at the Tokyo Games. Her accomplishment also increased Taiwan's medal count to 12, including two gold, four silver, and six bronze — more than the previous three Olympics combined.
When asked to comment on the result of the competition, Wen was cited by EBC News as saying, "This is karate, I accept all judgments by referees. Obviously, they all thought she was stronger." Asked if she had any regrets, Wen said, "Of course there will be regrets. Although the medal is not the color I wanted, I am satisfied with the process."
She then revealed that two weeks prior to participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she had accepted her boyfriend's proposal for marriage. She also confirmed that the identity of her fiancee is her boyfriend of 11 years and fellow national team karate competitor Hsu Wei-chun (徐瑋駿).
Because Hsu lost in the Olympic qualifying tournament for men's karate in June, he decided to devote himself to becoming Wen's sparring partner. When asked how he proposed to Wen, Hsu was cited by CNA as saying, "I'm embarrassed to say that I really didn't do anything special."
As for when the couple will tie the knot, they said that they have not yet discussed the details of the wedding. Wen emphasized that she did not announce the engagement until after her event was over to avoid causing any distractions.
When asked if Wen will compete in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, her coach Huang Hao-yun (黃昊昀) said that he will let her take a good long rest. "If she still wants to fight, she won't take a very long break. As long as she has the motivation and wants to fight, I will try to help her reach her highest potential," said Huang.
