“When I watched the movie Dangal with Chinese subtitles a few years ago, I noticed an uncanny resemblance between the wrestlers’ fathers and my own father,” says Taiwan’s first Olympic gold medalist Chen Shih-hsin.
Chen won the gold medal in the women’s flyweight division (49 kg class) in taekwondo at the 2004 Athens Olympics, ending a 72-year gold medal drought for Taiwan. Despite being a self-governing democracy with its own constitution and legislature, Taiwan competes at the Olympics under the fictional name “Chinese Taipei” – it is neither part of China nor consists solely of the city of Taipei (which is one of 23 cities on the island nation).
“My father was a strict taskmaster, just like the father in the movie. I think he was even stricter on me,” says Chen, who teaches about 100 students at her taekwondo school in the rural town of Xinfeng, near Taiwan’s semiconductor hub, Xinchu.
“Yes, you can call me an ordinary person in terms of inheriting my father’s courage and perseverance, which is similar to the characters in Dangal,” admits Chen, whose life story is full of dramatic and emotional twists and turns.
She is half Aboriginal, as her mother is from Taiwan’s indigenous Atayal community. Her father Chen Wei-hsiung ran a taekwondo training center in Taipei and introduced her to the martial art at the age of five. By the age of 15, Chen had made her mark on the world stage by winning her first appearance at the World Cup in the Cayman Islands in 1994. Two years later, she won her second world title in Brazil.
However, her career took an unexpected turn soon after. “I was disgusted by my father’s relentless efforts. One day, at the age of 18, I argued with him and ran away from home,” Chen said, adding that she went from being a world champion to a “betel nut beauty,” a term for scantily clad young women who sell betel nuts at kiosks in Taiwan.
After leaving her family and taekwondo, Chen made a living selling betel nuts and other products in Taichung. “I felt like I was a rebel, just like the girl in the Bollywood movie who rebelled after joining the national team. But unlike her outspoken protests, I just quit,” Chen said.
Three years later, a poignant line in a radio ad about a son unable to care for his aging parents on his birthday inspired him to return home. Reunited with his father, he resolved to resume his training and pursue his Olympic dream together. However, the three lost years cost him the chance to compete at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where taekwondo debuted as an Olympic medal sport.
“Being alone for those three years strengthened me, and helped me overcome the disappointment of not being able to participate in the Sydney Olympics,” Chen says.
Her indomitable spirit and her father’s unwavering support fueled her rigorous preparation for the next four years. “When I arrived in Athens, my biggest rival was myself, not my rivals from Cuba, Nepal, Canada or Nicaragua,” she recalls.
“Olympic gold was our shared dream.” Chen adds, “Opening a taekwondo gym and running it for decades was my father’s goal as much as mine. His ultimate goal was to bring an Olympic gold medal to the gym.”
On August 26, Chen made history by defeating Cuban opponent Yanelis Labrada to win the first gold medal for her “invisible” country, for herself, and most importantly, for her father.
“Over the years I have had countless fights, shed many tears and suffered many injuries. That final match in Athens was worth it,” she says.
At the age of 25, Chen decided to retire. “The past twenty years have been challenging, but I was lucky that I didn’t suffer serious injuries because of my father’s rigorous training,” she says.
Despite achieving her Olympic dream, Chen’s life unfolded like a gripping film script. She earned a PhD in sports psychology, secured a position as an associate professor at a major university, and started a family with two children. However, personal turmoil struck again.
An alleged extramarital affair with a fellow coach tarnished her reputation, forcing her to resign from her university position, leave her home and hand over custody of her daughter to her estranged husband. Nevertheless, Chen rose from the ashes and moved to Xinfeng with her son.
Today, Chen teaches taekwondo to local children. She lives away from the public eye and the hustle and bustle of Taipei in a dojang she built herself. Although her Athens Olympic gold medal is at her father’s house, she now dreams of winning a gold medal for her taekwondo school.
(Suvam Pal works for the Taipei-based Taiwan Plus news channel)