Chinese Taipei at the Olympics

Updated on Oct 20, 2023

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IOC code TPE 7 14		3 7

NOC Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee(Taiwan) Website www.tpenoc.net (Chinese) (English) Medals Gold Silver Bronze Total 3 7 14 24

The Republic of China currently competes as "Chinese Taipei" at the Olympic Games. The ROC first participated at the Summer Olympic Games in 1932. After the Chinese Civil War the ROC retreated to the island of Taiwan and only Taiwan-based athletes have competed in its team since then. The ROC boycotted the Olympics starting from the 1976 Summer Games until it returned to the 1984 Winter Games, and started participating as Chinese Taipei.

Due to pressure from the PRC, since 1984, Taiwanese athletes have competed under the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag instead of the flag of the Republic of China. For any medal ceremony, the National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China is played instead of the National Anthem of the Republic of China.

Taiwanese athletes won their first Olympic medal in 1960, and their first gold medals in 2004.

Timeline concerning Olympic recognition

The following timeline concerns the different names and principal events concerning recognition of the ROC Olympic team:

1910: The "Chinese National Olympic Committee" is created.

1932: ROC competes in the Olympics for the first time as China [1]

1951: The Chinese National Olympic Committee moves from Nanking to Taipei;

1952: ROC team briefly withdraws from the Olympics because its delegation was listed as China (Formosa);

1954: IOC adopted a resolution officially recognising the People's Republic of China (PRC) “Chinese Olympics Committee”. The PRC is invited to take part in the 1956 Olympics. The PRC organises a delegation;

1956: ROC represented at Melbourne Games as the Republic of China. PRC withdrew from the Games in protest because in the list of IOC members two Chinese National Olympic Committees were listed;

1958: PRC withdrew from Olympic movement and from the federations governing Olympic sports. Professor Tung Hou Yi, an IOC member for the PRC resigned;

1959: ROC informed that as it did not control sport on Mainland China, it could not continue to be recognized as the "Chinese National Olympic Committee". All applications under a different name would be considered;

1960: ROC committee renamed the "Olympic Committee of the Republic of China", and so recognized.;

1963: Agreed by the IOC that during an Olympic Games the delegation from Taiwan should be known as Taiwan but would be allowed to use the initials "ROC" on sports outfits;

1968: IOC agreed to renaming the Taiwan team as the Republic of China after the 1968 Games and to its participation under that banner;

1976: ROC is not permitted to participate in the Montreal Games as long as it insists on the name "Republic of China," because the host country, Canada, recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government of "China".

1979: IOC recognises the PRC Olympics committee as representing China for the first time since Communist rule began in 1949. The IOC decision followed a postal ballot among 89 members. Under the IOC decision, the ROC’s Olympics committee would be: renamed the “Chinese Taipei Olympics Committee”; recognised only as a provincial body; and would no longer be allowed to use the ROC's national anthem or flag at the Olympic Games.

1980: Chinese Taipei boycotts the Moscow Games due to the decision it must use the name Chinese Taipei in international sporting events.

1984: Chinese Taipei competes for the first time under the new moniker at the Sarajevo Winter Games.

ROC athletes have won a total of 19 medals at the Summer Games, with taekwondo as the top medal-producing sport. The ROC has never won a medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

References

Chinese Taipei at the Olympics Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA