10 NTNU Athletes earn spots at Tokyo Olympics
Due to the impact of COVID-19, the 2020 Olympic is postponed to be held in July 2021. Ten top athletes from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) earn spots at Tokyo Olympics to compete for the most honorable prize with other top players around the world.
The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23rd and the athletes are counting down the days. Until July 17, Taiwan has acquired 68 spots in 18 sports and 10 of them are from NTNU, the Department of Athletic Performance and the Department of Physical Education.
Taiwan men's gymnastics team, led by graduate student Tang Chia-Hung, was ranked 6th in 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, therefore got the ticket to the Olympics, 55 years after the last time Taiwanese joined the Olympics as a team.
Wang Kuan-Hung from the Department of Physical Education participated FINA World Junior Swimming Championships and achieved Olympic 'A' cut for 200 m butterfly, with a time of 1:56.48, became the second Taiwanese swimmer qualifies for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In 2020, he competed in Men's 200 m Butterfly and placed 3rd with a time of 1:50.79, which broke the previous World Junior Record. It is also the new Taiwan national record. This year, Wang achieved 200 m butterfly with a time of 1:54.77 in May. He has set a record of the third ranked globally and the fastest in Asia. He also broke the national record of freestyle in 100 m with a time of 49.52.
Two PhD students, Wei Chun-Heng and Lei Chien-Ying, both are renowned archers, will represent Taiwan in the Olympic game. Wei Chun-Heng was selected to compete for the Taiwanese squad at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju. He has grabbed medals in 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei, 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples. In 2019 World Archery Championships, he assisted the men’s archery team in getting the spot for the Olympics.
Lei Chien-Ying won the women's team bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games women's team, women's individual and team championships at the 2019 Dutch World Archery Championships, breaking the record of Taiwan. She is the first athlete that got the ticket to the Olympics without selection.
Weightlifters Chen Wen-Hui and Hsieh Yun-Ting are going to compete in the Olympics. Chen, ranked 7th in the world, is qualified for the Olympic Games. Hsieh ranked first in Asia with a cumulative score of international competitions in the past three years.
Lin Ying-Shin and Hsieh Hsi-En will be representing shooting and track and field. Lin grabbed the bronze medal in the women's 10-meter air rifle at the 2019 World Cup Air Gun Championships in Brazil with 229.9 points. Hsieh Hsi-En participated in the Olympic Women's 100 m as the only Taiwanese female athlete in track and field.
Wen Tzu-Yun, a master student in the Department of Physical Education, to play at the Olympics in May this year. Wen originally qualified for the Olympic Games in 2020. However, the World Karate Federation announced the cancellation of the previously announced list of Olympic athletes due to many unheld contests. Due to the global epidemic spread in 2020, many contests were postponed until 2021. Wen Tzu-Yun finally ranked second in the women's 55 kg class and will play at the Olympics along with the delegation of NTNU.
Graduate student Hsieh Yu-Chieh from the Department of Athletic Performance is qualified to play at the tennis compete in the women's doubles, announced on July 16th. She received a Gold medal in women’s doubles at 2015 Summer Universiade and is now ranked 179th in the doubles rankings. She hopes to play in full swing with no regret in every game.