Yesterday, Taiwan's Kuo Hsing-chun won gold and set an Olympic weightlifting record. Not long afterwards, news articles started popping up around the world, from Australia to South Korea to France, all highlighting the injustice faced by Taiwanese Olympic athletes. (See below for links.)
The first sentences of an article published on a French state-owned news site say:
"Taiwan's star weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun won gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, but when she ascended the podium to receive her medal there was no national flag and no national anthem to greet her.
Taiwan cannot even call itself "Taiwan" at the Games. Instead, it must use the title "Chinese Taipei", a source of considerable frustration to many Taiwanese."
Note that France is hosting the next Summer Olympics, so the above news article is a good sign for Taiwanese who hope that they will be treated better at Paris 2024.
When news of Kuo Hsing-chun's historic victory was posted on the official Tokyo Olympics Twitter account, a Taiwanese national flag emoji was deliberately omitted. National flag emojis are posted for winning athletes from other countries, but not for Taiwan. Angered by the blatant discrimination, fans from around the world showed support for Kuo by posting countless Taiwanese flag emojis in the comments section. One of the top comments contained two dozen Taiwanese flags and said, "Konnichiwa. You dropped something."
For the convenience of those who would like to show their support for Taiwan's athletes on Twitter, I have gathered links to all of the discriminatory tweets posted on the official Tokyo Olympics Twitter account:
KUO Hsing-chun breaks Olympic records in weightlifting, woman's 59kg
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1419952989423366145?s=09
KUO Hsing-chun wins gold in weightlifting, woman's 59kg
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1419938367962157062?s=09
CHEN Wen-Huei wins bronze in weightlifting, woman's 64kg
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1420018839593656323?s=09
LIN Yun-ju & CHENG I-ching win bronze in table tennis, mixed doubles
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1419681863929454602?s=09
DENG Yu-cheng, TANG Chih-chun, & WEI Chun-heng win silver in archery, men's team
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1419572466632904704?s=09
LO Chia-Ling wins bronze in Taekwondo
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1419293405654380544?s=19
YANG Yung Wei wins silver in judo
https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1418895345170403330?s=19
Below is a list of news articles published since yesterday that are noteworthy. You can use Google Translate if you don't understand the languages.
Why is Taiwan not called Taiwan at the Olympics? (Agence France-Presse, 27 July 2021)
https://amp.france24.com/en/live-news/20210727-why-is-taiwan-not-called-taiwan-at-the-olympics
Chinese Taipei: The medal winning Olympic nation you won’t find on any maps (news.com.au Australia, 28 July 2021)
https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/chinese-taipei-the-medal-winning-olympic-nation-you-wont-find-on-any-maps/news-story/ed8ec1df4e98c3ac896dc65242fe45cd
Taiwanese netizens thank Korea for using 'Taiwan,' not 'Chinese Taipei' (The Korea Times, 28 July 2021)
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sports/2021/07/600_312868.html
JO Tokyo 2021 : Taïwan ou "Taipei chinois" ? La question est sensible depuis quarante ans et Pékin veille au grain
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/les-jeux-olympiques/jo-2021-a-tokyo-taiwan-ou-taipei-chinois-la-question-est-sensible-depuis-quarante-ans-et-pekin-veille-au-grain_4715377.html
東奧／國際媒體都幫「台灣正名」 民進黨立院黨團籲「國內媒體正名」：就是台灣隊
https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2021728W0130
What country is TPE in the Olympics? (The Independent, 28 July 2021)
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/tpe-country-taiwan-chinese-taipei-b1891805.html?amp
TPE OLYMPICS: WHAT COUNTRY IS TPE AT TOKYO 2020? HISTORY, FLAG AND NATIONAL ANTHEM EXPLAINED (Eurosport, 28 July 2021)
https://www.eurosport.com/olympics/tokyo-2020/2020/tpe-olympics-what-country-is-tpe-at-tokyo-2020-history-flag-and-national-anthem-explained_sto8442034/story-amp.shtml