The members of Taiwan’s Paralympics team were received at the Presidential Office in Taipei on Tuesday after their return from Rio de Janeiro.
The team scooped two medals in Rio: a silver in the men’s team table tennis and a bronze for weightlifter Lin Tzu-hui.
President Tsai congratulated the team, saying she had been moved by the way they challenged and overcame their limitations in competition.
The leader of the team, Chen Lee-chou, described how pressure from China had forced a late change to their uniforms. The team removed the national emblem from their uniforms to ensure they would be allowed to compete. Chen said this was the first time China had made a complaint about the emblem.
Chen also drew attention to the lack of training facilities for athletes with disabilities. She also called for greater parity with Taiwan’s Olympic athletes in terms of prize money. Chen said that under the Chen Shui-bian administration from 2000 to 2004, Paralympians received half of the prize money offered to Olympians. This later went down to just 10%, she said.