Taiwan Today

Taipei City stands ready to host the 2017 Summer Universiade and take the best of Taiwan to the world.

The atmosphere at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in downtown Taipei City was electric as the thronging crowd awaited the unveiling April 19 of the official torch, mother flame lantern and torchbearer uniforms for the 2017 Summer Universiade—the biggest global sporting event ever staged in Taiwan.

Locally designed and manufactured for the Aug. 19-30 games, the three items epitomize the country’s rising international reputation as a hotbed of creativity and innovation. They also highlight the commitment of all segments of Taiwan society in pulling together to make the student sporting extravaganza a resounding success.

Taiwan has long eyed the Universiade. Kaohsiung City threw its hat in the ring for the biennial games in 2001, following this up with bids for the 2007 and 2011 events. Not to be outdone by the southern Taiwan metropolis, Taipei entered the race for the 2005 competition, finally clinching gold six years later when it was chosen over South American rival Brasilia as host city for the 29th edition by the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

Proven Pedigree

But it takes more than perseverance to stage a large-scale event such as the Universiade. Taipei ran a widely acclaimed Deaflympics in 2009, demonstrating it possessed the pedigree to put on the biggest multisport tournament in the world outside the Olympic Games. According to Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee (TUOC) under Taipei City Government, the games will be an even bigger challenge as they involve 7,700-plus athletes from 153 countries contesting 21 sports at competition venues in Taipei, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, New Taipei and Taoyuan cities.

TUOC spokesman Rony Yang (楊景棠) said the Universiade is an outstanding opportunity to show how smoothly Taiwan’s public and private sectors can coordinate and mobilize resources. “One of our first tasks after winning the bid was to carry out a facility inventory and quickly implement a renovation and construction program.”

Of the 38 venues, all were renovated or upgraded and two specially constructed. Many of the former are situated on the campuses of educational institutions, while the latter—Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium and Taipei Tennis Center—was completed at a combined cost of NT$4 billion (US$132.5 million) in mid-June.

“We managed to get the majority of the venues ready by the end of April on schedule and around 120 days ahead of the opening ceremony,” Yang said. “This allowed plenty of wiggle room to deal with any teething problems, and was four times the number set by the organizers of the Gwangju 2015 Summer Universiade in South Korea.”

Raising Awareness

With so many infrastructure plates spinning, it is to the credit of TUOC that it never took its eye off the ball when it came to devising and implementing a long-term public awareness campaign for the games. Incorporating distinctive local elements like flora and fauna, indigenous culture and traditional Chinese characters, the program produced the Universiade’s iconic mascot brand Bravo, which is modeled on the endemic Formosan black bear.

As the countdown to the games continued, TUOC kept interest levels at fever pitch with a steady stream of headline-grabbing announcements. These included the launch in March of the games’ official theme song “Embrace the World” and the decision the same month to inscribe traditional Chinese characters on the medals for the first time in the history of the event. The former is a collaboration between Taiwan indigenous Paiwan songwriter Utjung Tjakivalid and British producer Howie B, who has worked with such music industry luminaries as Bjork, Ry Cooder and U2, while the latter draws upon the expertise of Ming Chuan University in Taipei.

The next month saw the unveiling of the torch, mother flame lantern and torchbearer uniforms. The first two items, designed by Taipei-headquartered UID Create Ltd., employ traditional bamboo weaving-inspired patterns to convey the ideal of sportsmanship, as well as the traditional Chinese values of dignity and humility.

Equally impressive is the third item by local fashion designer Jasper Huang (黃嘉祥). Featuring a reimagined Universiade logo expressed in a style reminiscent of traditional Chinese brush painting, the uniforms are made from S. Cafe yarn—a high-tech green fabric infused with microscopic particles of recycled coffee grounds—produced by New Taipei-based Singtex Industrial Co.

Inherent Strengths

Filmmaker Lo Ming-chung (羅銘中‬), who was commissioned by the Department of Cultural Affairs under Taipei City Government to document the painstaking processes behind the development of the torch and mother flame lantern, said the experience opened his eyes to the strength and vitality of Taiwan’s designers and artisans. “I was truly touched by the innovative professionals in various sectors that jointly enhanced the visibility of the country’s cultural and creative strength on the global stage in fashioning these items.”

In addition to Taiwan’s small and medium enterprises, bigger outfits like New Taipei-based Acer Inc., maker of advanced electronics, and Hsinchu City-headquartered MediaTek Inc., a leading global fabless semiconductor firm, are set to gain significant exposure as major sponsors at the Universiade. Acer and MediaTek teamed up with Taipei-based EasyCard Corp., which provides smart cards for passengers and integrated circuit ticketing systems for public transport in Taiwan, to produce smartwatches as gifts for participating athletes.

The device can be used to make payments on public transport, monitor a wearer’s vital signs and serve as a fitness tracker. About 13,000 of the watches will be distributed at the games, a measure described in January at a news conference by Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as “a good way to spotlight the nation’s technology sectors and our impressive soft power.”

Final Stages

With the bulk of the organizational heavy lifting out of the way, TUOC is throwing its full weight behind the final stage of Universiade preparations: optimizing human resources utilization and coordination. At the heart of this undertaking is a more than 18,000-strong army of retirees, students and other members of society. By the end of April, TUOC had assigned each of the volunteers a specific role ranging from providing on-site medical support services for athletes and serving as stewards at venues to cleaning up the Athletes’ Village in New Taipei’s Linkou District.

Hong Meng-yun (洪孟筠), a specialist at TUOC tasked with recruiting and training volunteers, said such individuals are essential for the success of events like the Universiade. “With enthusiasm, passion and training, they will certainly play a key role in the games.”

The committee is also working closely with the central government in boosting security capabilities during the Universiade. This cooperation was on display in March during an anti-terrorism drill around the 20,000-seat Taipei Stadium, the outdoor venue for the opening and closing ceremonies for the games. Around 4,000 personnel from the armed forces and emergency services, as well as three helicopters—two UH-60 Blackhawks and an OH-58D Kiowa—took part in an exercise designed to test responses to a number of situations such as bomb threats, hostage-taking and medical emergencies.

As Taipei finishes dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on Universiade preparations, there is little doubt participants are set to enjoy one of the most special editions of the games to date. This is in keeping with Ko’s pledge two years ago at the closing ceremony of the Gwangju Universiade to achieve this goal through fully utilizing the city’s reputation as a regional capital of cuisine, culture and creativity, and information and communication technology. “With the games approaching soon, the world will discover this promise is well kept,” he said.

Going for Gold

A record 350-plus local athletes are gearing up to take on the best in the world as they go for gold at the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, the biggest global sporting event ever staged in Taiwan. But the pressure of delivering the goods in front of stands packed with raucous countrymen looms large as an X-factor in the students’ performance at the Aug. 19-30 games.

Lee Shan-lung (李山龍), a coach of Taiwan’s taekwondo poomsae, or forms, team, said competing on home soil offers an overwhelming advantage. “But the flip side is large crowds have sky-high expectations and this can prove too much for some athletes.”

According to the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration, the country’s best medal chances are in the compulsory sports of athletics, table tennis, taekwondo and tennis, as well as the optional ones of archery, badminton, baseball, golf, roller sports, weightlifting and wushu.

Double Olympic gold weightlifter Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨) is expected to continue her winning ways, as is women’s badminton singles world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎). The latter’s decision to represent Taiwan at the games instead of entering the Badminton World Federation World Championships taking place at the same time in Glasgow earned her glowing praise from all corners of society.

The Sports Administration said Taiwan is aiming to finish fifth in the rankings at the Universiade—another record result for the country at the games. Since debuting in the biennial event 30 years ago in Zagreb, capital of the then Yugoslav republic Croatia, Taiwan has bagged 175 medals—46 golds, 51 silvers and 78 bronzes.

Taiwan’s best showing to date in terms of rankings was at the 2009 edition in Belgrade, Serbia, where it finished seventh with 17 medals—seven golds, five silvers and five bronzes. But the 2015 games in Gwangju was the scene of the country’s biggest-ever medal haul, with local athletes winning 36 medals—six golds, 12 silvers and 18 bronzes.

As an added incentive for members of the national team to achieve athletic glory, the Sports Administration has increased by 50 percent subsidies for gold, silver and bronze medalists to NT$900,000 (US$29,800), $450,000 (US$14,900) and $225,000 (US$7,450), respectively. In addition, Rotary Club of Taipei Tunghua—a local branch of the U.S.-based nonprofit—has pledged to present Taiwan medal winners in track and field events with bonuses of up to NT$1 million (US$33,110). 

—by Oscar Chung

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw