Republic of China at the Olympics

Republic of China at the Olympic Games
Flag of the Republic of China IOC code  ROC NOC Chinese National Olympic Committee
Olympic history
Summer Games
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948
Other related appearances
People's Republic of China (1952–) Chinese Taipei (1956–)

The Republic of China (ROC) participated in its first Summer Olympics in 1932 under the name of China. After the Chinese Civil War the ROC retreated to the island of Taiwan, only Taiwan-based athletes have now competed on behalf of the country. The ROC protested the 1979 Nagoya Resolution by boycotting the 1976 Summer Olympics; this continued until the ROC as Chinese Taipei competed in the 1984 Winter Olympics. China also took part in the Opening Ceremony of the 1924 Summer Olympics, but its four athletes (all tennis players) withdrew from competition.^[1]

Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

Games	Athletes	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1932 Los Angeles	1	0	0	0	0	–
1936 Berlin	54	0	0	0	0	–
1948 London	31	0	0	0	0	–
Total		0	0	0	0	–

The Nagoya Resolution

Overview

The Nagoya Resolution brought about the participation of the PRC in Olympic Games activities by designating that the ROC would be identified as Chinese Taipei and any identifying flag, anthem or emblem used in Olympic activities would be without symbolism to the independence aspirations of the ROC.^[2]

A number of previous IOC actions enabled the IOC to include both the PRC and the ROC in Olympic activities despite the attempts by the former to argue that the ROC identity be as a subordinate branch of the PRC NOC. The PRC objected to the ROC NOC having that designation because it included the word "national", and the PRC did not recognize it as a nation. The solution to that issue was the IOC Charter provision that a country or nation designation could also include geographical area, district or territory. The 1997 revision of the IOC charter reinforced the legitimacy of some form of a ROC NOC being recognized, as the IOC Charter (Article 31.1) was clarified to define the term "country" as an independent state with international recognition.^[2]

Also, a retroactive action to remove recognition of an existing NOC was prohibited by a 1996 IOC Session action.. Nevertheless, the PRC sought to equate the status of the ROC NOC with that of the Hong Kong NOC (in line with the PRC's assertion that neither Hong Kong nor Taiwan are independent states), and the IOC charter prohibited any subordinate territory from acting on its own without authority from its country's NOC. The ROC NOC reasserted its independent spirit by bidding for the 2009 Asian Games and the Olympic Games; both were rejected but the ROC bid for the World Games in Kaohsiung was accepted. It is interesting to understand that according to the policy that the PRC attempted to reinforce, Macau would have the right to an IOC-recognized NOC, but whilst the ROC and Hong Kong NOC's existed and were recognized previous to 1997, Macau's NOC has never been recognized by the IOC.^[2]

The ROC NOC took the issue to a Swiss court and the case was dismissed."^[3][4][5]

Resolution language: French and English versus Chinese

The official use of French and English to compose the Nagoya Resolution made its translation in Chinese a quandary when it came to the 1990 Asian Games, as expressed by the IOC member from the PRC. He Zhenliang, said that the PRC had always translated “Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee” as Zhongguo Taibei Aoweihui (中国台北奥委会） and ROC translated it as Zhonghua Taibei Aoweihui (中華台北奥委會). There was no problem when both the ROC and PRC were involved in the same event in other Chinese language countries as the names would be spelled phonetically according to the host language. But the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing resurrected the issue over the one Chinese character differential in each name: the PRC translation of "Zhongguo" (中国) and the ROC translation "Zhonghua" (中華).^[2]

He believed that the actual objection by the ROC was that acceptance of the PRC interpretation was tantamount to being "roped into a local organ of the Zhongguo Olympic Committee." He said that the PRC decided that the "principle of the “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan” was not involved and agreed to the ROC name interpretation.^[2]

Torch relay route

The ROC sought to differentiate itself from the PRC when the Torch Relay route was announced for the 2008 Summer Olympics; The ROC insisted that the route both entering and exiting the ROC could not be directly from or to PRC territory as that might give the impression that the ROC was part of the PRC.^[2]

References

1. (ed.) M. Avé, Comité Olympique Français. Les Jeux de la VIII^e Olympiade Paris 1924 – Rapport Officiel (PDF) (in French). Paris: Librairie de France. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 May 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2012. 39 seulement s’alignérent, ne représentant plus que 24 nations, la Chine, le Portugal et la Yougoslavie ayant déclaré forfait.
2. http://hnn.us/article/51398#sthash.04ZCBpL4.dpuf; George Mason University History News Network: Susan Brownell, "Could China stop Taiwan from coming to the Olympic Games?"; original source: Minutes of the Executive Board meeting, Nagoya, Japan, 23-25 October 1979, p. 103; viewed August 26, 2014.
3. The Times, January 17, 1980
4. "Taiwan requests meets court folly; Swiss gives Peking go-ahead". The Spokesman Review. 1980-01-16. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
5. "Swiss court dismisses Taiwan case". Bangor Daily News. 1980-01-16. Retrieved 2011-09-23.

External links

• "China at the 1932 Games". Sports-Reference.com.
• "China at the 1936 Games". Sports-Reference.com.
• "China at the 1948 Games". Sports-Reference.com.