The 13th Asian Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6-20, 1998. Under the leadership of team director Tang Ming-hsin, the Chinese Taipei delegation collected 19 gold medals, 17 silvers, and 41 bronzes, far exceeding their tally of seven golds, 12 silvers, and 24 bronzes at the 12th Asian Games held in 1994 in Hiroshima.

This edition of the Asian Games featured 36 official events, plus the demonstration events of Thai boxing and athletic dancing. Athletes vied for a total of 377 gold medals, 19 of which were won by members of the Chinese Taipei team. In the overall medal count, Chinese Taipei ranked sixth among over 40 countries, behind mainland China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Kazakhstan.

The bowling competition remained the biggest gold mine for the Chinese Taipei team, which amassed a hefty six golds, two silvers, and three bronzes. In the women's bowling competition, Chou Miao-ling alone collected three gold medals and a bronze. The team also collected three golds each in both the taekwondo and billiards competitions.

In the water, 17 year-old Tsai Shu-min proceeded to strike gold in the women's 200 meter freestyle, marking the first time a Taiwanese athlete has taken first place in an official international swimming event. The swim team went on to earn a total of one gold medal and four bronze medals, in the process breaking a full 11 national records. Many observers agree that the Chinese Taipei team's medal success in swimming, considered second in prestige only to track and field, represents a major breakthrough in national athletics.

In other competition, the Chinese Taipei team collected two gold medals in golf, and one gold each in wushu, soft tennis, karate and tennis.

In the run-up to the games, the Chinese Taipei baseball team, featuring a mixture of professional and amateur players, was the focus of considerable attention. The team captured the bronze medal, but a lopsided 16-5 loss to South Korea (halted according to Asian Games rules before the full nine innings when Korea's lead exceeded 10 runs) and a further 4-1 loss to Japan dashed the team's hopes for gold. Although traditionally among the world's top five baseball powers, Taiwan has gone into a tailspin in international competition in recent years. Following this year's setback, intense discussion in Taiwan once again focused on what went wrong and how to address the sagging development of baseball in Taiwan.

Despite these minor disappointments, the Chinese Taipei delegation far out-performed all of its predecessors at the Asian Games and Olympics, prompting National Sports Council (NSC) chairperson Chao Li-yun to give the team a perfect score in her assessment. Chao relates that in the 17 months since the government established the NSC, the athletic community gained a valuable window through which to secure their rights and privileges. With the added efforts of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, the Chinese Taipei Sports Federation and assorted single-sport athletic associations, the excellent results achieved at the Asian Games were finally made possible.

As many celebrated victory, the government announced that it will award over NT$400 million in bonus money, prompting public skepticism of the money-oriented message the rich rewards may convey. Most controversial of all were plans to award Taiwan's "Dream Team" baseball players NT$21 million, despite their disappointing performance. Certain individual athletes stand to receive NT$120 million or more after the Asian Games, seemingly allowing the glitter of their cash rewards to dim that of their gold medals.

Since the institution of the Kuo Kuang and Chung Cheng incentive programs and priority training events, Taiwan has won medals in mostly in less popular disciplines or lightly contested events in international competition, such as bowling, billiards and taekwondo. Meanwhile, incentives have proven of little benefit in events with tougher competition. Consequently, the government must give thorough consideration to whether incentives should be graded according to difficulty of competition in a given event, and if the national athletics policy should be exclusively medal-oriented.

Hou Chih-yuan, associate professor at the National Sports College of Physical Education and Sports Institute, relates that from the perspective of raising international visibility, gold medals in all sports at international competitions are of equal value. However, from an emotional or historical standpoint, a sport such as baseball is considered a part of Taiwan's "collective memory," and as such a medal in baseball is an honor shared by all of society. Furthermore, Hou says that the purpose of the bonus system will be defeated if it leads to mercenary attitudes and competition for resources.

The curtain has closed on the Asian Games in Bangkok, yet the stellar achievements of Taiwan's athletes should not be allowed to divert attention from existing problems. Just around the corner, the athletes will face the challenges of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and 14th Asian Games in Pusan, Korea in 2002. With no end of challenges in sight, athletes in all disciplines require the support of a more comprehensive athletic policy and an improved athletic environment.

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Chinese Taipei's Tang Hui-wen uses lightning-quick moves to capture the gold medal in the Asian Games women's taekwondo flyweight division. (photo by Lin Yung-chang)