Taipei - Taiwan, after reassessing its athletes' capabilities, on Thursday cut down the island's Beijing Olympics goal from the original seven gold medals to just one. Tai Hsia-ling, director of the Sports Affairs Council, said she has cut down the number of expected golds because she wants to be pragmatic and not put pressure on athletes.
Taiwan will send about 40 athletes to the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics, and the Sports Affairs Council under former president Chen Shui-bian, who stepped down on Tuesday, aimed at winning seven golds.
Tai, a former track and field athlete, took over the Sports Affairs Council when President Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated on May 20.
"On May 20, my estimate was that we could win one gold and one silver. But now I think taekwondo player Chu Mu-yn has 70 per cent chance of winning gold, so I have revised it to 0.7 gold," she said.
Chu, 26, won gold in men's under-58 kilogramme class in taekwondo at the 2004 Athens Olympics, becoming the second Taiwan athlete and the first Taiwan male to win a gold at the Olympics.
