TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Wang Ling-hua (王令樺) of the Taipei City Police Department was among numerous police and firefighter athletes who displayed the Taiwan flag on the podium as they collected medals at the World Police and Fire Games in Canada over the weekend despite a spat over which banner competitors should display.
On Saturday (July 29), Huang Yuh-min (黃郁閔), a member of the Taoyuan Fire Department, uploaded a video on Facebook showing that during the opening ceremony, as Taiwanese firefighters started to unfurl Taiwan flags for the athlete's procession, a Taiwanese police officer told them to put away the banners. The officer insisted that the athletes follow the "Olympic model" by only showing the Chinese Taipei banner, and when asked what unit he belonged to, he said he was from the National Police Agency (NPA).
Huang described the police officer's tone as "threatening" and claimed that the team would be banned if it displayed the Taiwan flag. According to Huang, the Chinese team did not even appear at the ceremony and many Taiwanese team members ran over to pose with him as he carried the flag.
Huang added that during the ceremony, many Canadians cheered for Taiwan. When the team entered the gymnasium, Huang said the team was initially announced as "Chinese Taipei" but that the Canadian host for the event shouted "Team Taiwan."
On Sunday morning (July 30), the National Fire Agency (NFA) said on Facebook that firefighters had racked up one gold, three silvers, and one bronze. Half an hour later, the NPA announced on Facebook that Taiwan's medal tally had risen to three golds, four silvers, and one bronze.
In an apparent response to the opening ceremony incident, the NPA said Taiwan's delegation has "always participated under the principle of taking into account the rights and interests of athletes and fully safeguarding national sovereignty and dignity." It added that on the first day, the winning athletes displayed the national flag as they came to the podium to accept their awards, and members of the delegation also held up the national flag as they cheered on their teammates.
Wang posing with her two gold medals (left) and holding the flag while on podium. (Facebook, NPA image)
Among the police athletes who took medals that day was Wang Ling-hua, who was the only Taiwanese athlete to capture two golds, in the bikini fitness and physique events. Each time she took the podium she held up the Taiwan flag.
Wang was cited by the NPA as saying, "I would like to thank all the teammates who came to cheer me on and helped to calm my nerves on the first day of competition. It truly made me feel happy and empowered. I hope to use these two gold medals to help cheer and support all my teammates and achieve even greater success."
The following video shows the confrontation that took place during the opening ceremonies between the police officer and firefighter:
NFA post announcing winning firefighters who had already medalled:
NPA post clarifying its stance on the display of flags and announcing additional medalists:
