Xiao Xiang-wen bags Taiwan’s first medal at Paris Paralympics

2024-08-30

Taiwan has won its first medal at the Paris Paralympics, and its first medal ever in taekwondo at the event. The medal winner is taekwondo practitioner Xiao Xiang-wen, who competed in the men’s K44 58-kilogram division. Xiao says his next goal is to win gold at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028.

Xiao Xiang-wen and his coach Wu Yen-ni trot around the ring hoisting Taiwan’s Paralympic flag. Xiao’s bronze medal is Taiwan’s first at the Paris Paralympics. It is also Taiwan’s first ever medal in taekwondo at this competition. In the semifinal, Xiao had been up against Israel’s Asaf Yasur, the top seeded fighter. He lost the match 16-6, leaving him in the match for bronze against Spanish rising star Joel Martín Villalobos.

Xiao put on an outstanding offense, winning the match 16-8 and bagging bronze. Though he hadn’t achieved his goal of winning gold, he says the bronze was not a bad result. As a university student, Xiao had been intending to join Taiwan’s national taekwondo team. But before the qualifiers, he was injured in a car accident that damaged a network of nerves in his right arm. Now 25, he has made it to the Paralympic team, and won a bronze to boot. He had his coach to thank.

Xiao Xiang-wen
Taekwondo practitioner
Coach, I love you. Thank you for being with me on this hard journey. It has been exhausting to try to earn points to get on this stage and we had to constantly go abroad for competitions. That left her with very little time to spend with her family.

Wu said she was very aware of the tremendous effort Xiao had made to win the bronze medal.

Wu Yen-ni
Xiao Xiang-wen’s coach
It is already extremely hard for able-bodied people to achieve this. And especially for him, having emerged from a low point in life. The injury in his right arm made things more difficult, as it impacted his ability to write and type. So studying and handing in homework became more difficult, but he overcame all the obstacles in his way.

The duo now have their sights set on the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, where Xiao hopes to turn his bronze to gold.

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蕭翔文跆拳道奪銅台灣在巴黎帕運獎牌開張

2024-08-30

巴黎帕運第一天的比賽，我國跆拳道好手蕭翔文，就在男子K44級，58公斤量級，奪下銅牌，這也是台灣代表隊，在本屆帕運會的第一面獎牌，獲勝之後，蕭翔文和教練吳燕妮一起拿著台灣會旗，繞場慶祝。

蕭翔文和恩師吳燕妮，開心舉起會旗繞場，這面銅牌不僅是台灣代表團，在本屆巴黎帕運的第一面獎牌，也是我國帕運跆拳道第一面，蕭翔文在四強賽碰上大會頭號種子，以色列好手亞素，結果以6:16落敗，只能和20歲西班牙新星，畢亞羅伯斯爭銅牌。

蕭翔文進攻強悍，16:8勝出獲得銅牌，賽後他表示，雖然沒能如願拿下金牌，但有銅牌也不錯了，25歲的蕭翔文，在大學一次國手選拔賽前出車禍，導致右手臂神經叢損傷，如今帕運奪銅，最感謝教練吳燕妮。

[[巴黎帕運跆拳道銅牌蕭翔文]]
“教練，我愛妳，謝謝妳一路走來，其實都很辛苦，因為為了要拿取積分踏上這個舞台，其實滿累的，因為要一直出國，一直打比賽，所以其實她，沒有很多的時間可以陪伴她的家人”

吳燕妮教練也很清楚，蕭翔文為這面帕運銅牌，背後的付出有多麼巨大。

[[蕭翔文教練吳燕妮]]
“一般正常人來講，就已經相當不容易了，更何況是他曾經經歷過低潮，而且在一隻手很不方便的情況之下，而且他傷的是右手，所以他寫字打字這些都會受限，所以他在學習上學業上也是很辛苦，但是他都克服了”

師徒二人相知相惜，並且相約，2028年洛杉磯帕運，要把獎牌升級到金牌。

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