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Dreams and Realization, Behind-the-Scene Heroes of the Universiade (TAIPEI QUARTERLY 2017 AUTUMN Vol.09)

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Post date:2017-09-14

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Dreams and Realization, Behind-the-Scene Heroes of the Universiade

Biggest Sporting Event in Taiwan Closes Successfully

ArticleYe Sinuo

PhotosLiu Xianchang, Liang Zhongxian, Jiang Youren, Huang Jianbin, Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee

 

When the countdown to the Taipei 2017 Universiade was in its final days, and the torch was touring around Taiwan, the event staff in Taipei didnt have time for a break. On the 11th floor of City Hall, Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee CEO ( 世大運執行長), Su Lichung ( 蘇麗瓊) hung a sunny day doll on the front of her desk, praying for a brilliant opening.

 

Five years ago, Zhang Shengjie ( 張勝傑 ), Deputy Division Chief of the Universiades General Administration Division ( 綜合行政處 ), was seconded away from his National Taipei Sport University teaching position, and found that his preparatory group at City Government contained only six people. “In the beginning, the Universiade was just a master plan in the form of a thick book,” Zhang says.

 

This proposal supplied the bone structure of the Universiade project, but the group was expected to provide the flesh. In their Taipei Arena ( 台北小巨蛋 ) south zone office, the 300+ full-time staff almost filled up the room. Counting Taipei City Government part-timers, there were more than 1000 people working for the largest sports event ever held in Taiwan.

TAIPEI AUTUMN 2017 Vol.09 Dreams and Realization, Behind-the-Scene Heroes of the Universiade
▲Top athletes from universities around the world attend the Universiade, making it an exciting sporting event. (Photo: Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee)
 

Competitors’ Pride and Dreams

 

For athletes, the Taipei Universiade was definitely a place where dreams came true.

 

I am a sportsman, and this was the first time Taiwan had held such an event in its 400 years. How could any athlete not dive right in?! says Universiade Deputy CEO, Zheng Fangfan ( 鄭芳梵). He recalls that in 2016, while he was leading a team to matches in Europe, he received a call inviting him to join the Universiade planning committee. He had intended to retire, so at first he declined; but when he turned the idea over in his mind, he just couldn’t fight the urge emanating from his sportsman’s soul. So, he decided to delay retirement and accepted the offer. He was put in charge of event-related administrative work, such as scheduling and liaison between athletes and referees.

Sports is one of the best foreign policy instruments, presenting a great opportunity for the world to see Taiwan, says Ji Zheng ( 紀政 ), Universiade Organizing Committee advisor. She appealed to all gold medal winners at important international events to gather and cheer on our Universiade athletes. “This was a global sports event second only to the Olympics, and definitely the first and the last in Taiwan.”

 

Another advisor, Chen Yuxin ( 陳雨鑫 ) used to be an athlete too. He believes the Universiade provided a treasure trove for the Taiwan sporting world. The Universiade left Taiwan a precious legacy: a human-resource database for future sports events,” he says. And he is surely part of that legacy. Even though Chen worked over twelve hours a day, when he remembers preparing for the Universiade, his eyes still sparkle. He studied Sports Event Management in graduate school, and, yet, this was his first opportunity to translate the theories he learned into real activities. And this event took place in his homeland, Taiwan!

 

But making this dream a reality was a tough task; it was not just accomplished by bringing athletes together. Every Friday morning, all 19 departments and divisions in the Universiade preparatory office got together for meetings, and each one involved

as many persons as a typical small-sized City Government assembly.

 

Sport is not my area of expertise, but I am familiar with the civil service system. With the advantage of being on the administration side, and as a team leader, I believed the most important thing was to keep an open mind and trust the professionals to do their jobs. Interdepartmental communication and negotiation was crucial too,” says Su. As Taipei City Government Secretary General, she was entrusted with the position of Universiade CEO at a critical moment. She emphasizes that Universiade preparation was all about team work, with central and local governments providing input, supporting and learning from each other. Group staff members didn’t all come from a sports background, but the unit operated just like a sports team.

 

At my first meeting, I bowed to everyone,” Zheng recalls. Many of the City Government also had no connection with sports, but nobody saw any difference and everyone worked together for this athletic event. Such spirit filled everyone’s heart with thankfulness and a strong emotion.
As a sportsman, Zheng Fangfan dives right in to work with the team. (Photo: Jiang Youren)
As a sportsman, Zheng Fangfan dives right in to work with the team. (Photo: Jiang Youren)

Zhang Shengjie joined the team during the Universiade’s preparatory period. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)
Zhang Shengjie joined the team during the Universiade’s preparatory period. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)

Su Lichung hopes the Taipei 2017 Universiade will be a glorious memory for all Taiwanese. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)
Su Lichung hopes the Taipei 2017 Universiade will be a glorious memory for all Taiwanese. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)

 

Courageously Taking on Mission Impossible

 

What the Taiwanese people and media cared most about this international sports event was venue construction.

 

Venue construction is the real deal; you cant bluff your way through it. When the time comes, the proof s in the pudding. So says Xue Chunming ( 薛春明 ), Universiade Deputy CEO, who comes from a civil engineering background. He has contributed to subway, HSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail), and MRT Xinyi ( 信義 ) and Songshan ( 松山 ) Line construction. But Universiade venue construction required the involvement of five county and city governments, 14 national and private universities, and the Ministries of Education ( 教育部 ), the Interior ( 內政部 ) and National Defense ( 國防部 ). Having survived such pressure, he still jokes that he often adopted a long face all day at work an occupational injury!

 

Every venue was crucial, and all of them had to be done on time, each one meeting the functionality standards of the Universiade.” Xue often brought up this goal with Venues Division staff. In fact, it proved very difficult to reach those standards. All of the venues had to conform to the exacting demands of SportAccord. For example, every football pitch could not be certified until it had passed FIFA’s (International Federation of Association Football, ) six basic tests. In one such test, a ball dropped from the same height at 25 random locations on a pitch had to rebound to exactly the same distance each time.

 

We had to avoid anything going wrong behind the scenes, says Chen Weisheng (陳蔚昇), Deputy Division Chief of the Universiades Venues Division . FISU (International University Sports Federation, ) had also set a basic requirement that every venues temperature and humidity be under strict control. For example, diving, water polo and swimming all had different water temperatures – and yet room temperature and humidity had to reach FISU standards by the start time of rhythmic gymnastics. Even though he was a Physical Education graduate, Chen was still amazed by the exactitude of these rules.

 

Xue and his teammates frequently climbed scaffolds to check on the constructions progress. With a preparatory stage longer than that of the Gwangju, South Korea (南韓光州) Summer Universiade in 2015, the Taipei group allowed ample time for special design implementation and changes. All delegation heads wanted their athletes to achieve personal bests, so they expected the highest possible standards for venues. But on May 11th, the Heads of Delegation Meeting took place, and no objections to venue quality were raised! After that meeting, the Canadian head delegate even gave Xue a thank you card, complimenting him on the quality of construction, which had deeply impressed him.

 

Through team effort, all venue construction progressed intensely. Yet, there was another task to tackle: the athletes village in Linkou (林口).

 

Universiade CEO, Su recalls, Completing the Athletes Village was a highly stressful task with food, clothing, accommodation, and transportation needs for more than ten thousand people. Although she worked on the 2009 World Games (世運) in Kaohsiung, this was the first time a distinct athletes’ village was ever set up in Taiwan, and the first time for Linkou to accommodate so many people. Naturally, she felt very anxious.

 

The most nerve-wracking part was the food. The athletes’ restaurant required seating for 3500, and at the peak period of the Games, 35000 to 40000 meals had to be prepared daily! This eatery often stayed open 20 hours a day. Moreover, the athletes came from 130 different countries, each with its own cuisine and flavors. But Ms. Su still had to satisfy them all.

 

Qu Dacheng (璩大成), who was the Universiades catering supervisor and also Division Chief of the Catering & Sports Injury Prevention Division recalls, My mission was to build a restaurant 20 times bigger than the biggest one existing in Taiwan at that time. And I had to do it within six months, get staff, equipment and ingredients ready, and then tear it down after 20 days of operation!”

 

He admits that with so many things to do, he didn’t know where to start. At one point, he couldn’t find the right caterer, so he led staff members of the Department of Government Ethics on a tour to see what was available. One catering heavyweight told him, “This kind of sports job is almost guaranteed to get negative reviews.” So he looked into Taiwan’s supply networks, restaurants, and airport catering services, etc. Qu learned a lot from this research, and in the end, settled on a famous Australian catering company, and an equipment supplier that had previously be contracted to the U.S. Army in the Middle East.

 

Qu also had some breakthrough ideas for FISU. “In the past, wherever Universiades were held, athletes’ meals had to be ordered manually,” he says. Our ICT Division set up a system whereby competitors could order meals online, which would reduce lineups tremendously. This idea won FISU’s approval, and demonstrated the capability of IT in Taiwan.”

 

Qu jokes about how he can talk about these things with a smile now, but back then he got so stressed he almost cried. He felt for those Taipei City Hospital (臺北市立聯合醫院) staff who worked for the Universiade. They served for two years, but still went on fighting for Taiwan’s glory – diligently completing every task presented to them.”
TAIPEI AUTUMN 2017 Vol.09 Dreams and Realization, Behind-the-Scene Heroes of the Universiade

▲Politecnico di Torino (Polytechnic University of Turin) Principal, Macro Gilli (left), FISU Chairman, Oleg Matytsin (middle), and Taipei Mayor Ko (right) become torch holders. (Photo: Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee)

Xue Chunming thanks staff for their efforts, as the quality of work renovating Universiade venues garners approval from Heads of Delegation Meeting members. (Photo: Huang Jianbin)

▲Xue Chunming thanks staff for their efforts, as the quality of work renovating Universiade venues garners approval from Heads of Delegation Meeting members. (Photo: Huang Jianbin)

Chen Yuxin believes the Universiade will leave behind a treasure trove for the Taiwan sporting world. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)
▲Chen Yuxin believes the Universiade will leave behind a treasure trove for the Taiwan sporting world. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)

Qu Dacheng is the Universiade’s catering supervisor, in charge of the athletes’ meals. (Photo: Liang Zhongxian)

 

Letting the World See Taiwan!

 

For what reason did we work so hard? To let the world see Taiwan!” So says sports lover, Qu. He believes the Taipei Universiade certainly allowed athletes from all over the world to know Taiwan better.

 

Zhang had participated in many international sports events beforehand. In Japan, he was struck by the warm and meticulous care volunteers provided; and, in Germany, he was very impressed by their punctual shuttle services.

 

The responsibility of showing Taiwan to the world fell onto the shoulders of Universiade Deputy CEO, You Shiming (游適銘) who was in charge of promotion. Facing many diplomatic obstacles, he had to take the initiative. Last year, he flew to five countries, promoting the Taipei Universiade in every one. During his busy schedule, he even lost his luggage twice in Europe! Complications do happen, of course, but he always managed to overcome and learn from them.

 

The Universiade ambassador, Bravo (熊讚) became a well-known figure due to the marketing and promotion teams hard work, and after that accomplishment, they decided to focus on quality rather than quantity. Earlier this year, the Universiade set up the Brand Management team (品牌小組), which released a promotional video entitled: Taipei in Motion. This combined sports images with Taipeis modern urban look, and many viewers had a bright look in their eyes after seeing it!

 

But Deputy CEO, You admits that even though he tried to learn from experience, some people were still critical. For example, when a few elected representatives asked to see the newly-built Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium (和平籃球館), players at the site were suddenly asked to perform slam dunks without any prior warning. The hoop hadn’t even been fixed to the backboard properly and shook violently with each attempt. The media made a big fuss about it, and the resulting brouhaha deflated the morale of junior staff. “But I tried to make them realize that the media often misrepresented the facts; and all we could do was keep on communicating. The more we communicated, the clearer the messages would be.”
Diving, water polo and swimming require different water temperatures, and all facilities and aspects of the technology have to meet international standards and be under strict control. (Photo: Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee)

▲Diving, water polo and swimming require different water temperatures, and all facilities and aspects of the technology have to meet international standards and be under strict control. (Photo: Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee)

Ever promoting the Taipei 2017 Universiade, You Shiming travels around the world. (Photo: Liu Xianchang)
▲Ever promoting the Taipei 2017 Universiade, You Shiming travels around the world. (Photo: Liu Xianchang)

Chen Weisheng leads the young group working on venue preparation. (Photo: Huang Jianbin)
▲Chen Weisheng leads the young group working on venue preparation. (Photo: Huang Jianbin)

Ji Zheng leads the appeal for everyone in Taiwan to buy tickets to the games and come to cheer on our athletes. (Photo: Jiang Youren)
▲Ji Zheng leads the appeal for everyone in Taiwan to buy tickets to the games and come to cheer on our athletes. (Photo: Jiang Youren)

 

Learning from Conflicts

 

During the organizational process, the Universiade group went through difficult times, such as the handover of City Government teams and the junior staff turnover. It was inevitable that conflicts would happen, but, at the end of the day, everyone learned from them.

 

Deputy Chief Zhang remembers one particular example of a conflict at work: “Just before a test swimming race was to be conducted, we noticed that a computer hub for an IT system had been placed by the pool and was blocking the camera’s view. It took the whole afternoon to sort it out.”

 

Deputy Chief Chen says there were many cases like this. And when he inquired into the needs of working teams, he found that everyone just wanted to do a better job, and put on the best performance they could. All anyone could do was seek a common goal through communication. Every decision was the result of coordination and cooperation.

 

Of course, there were conflicts of the “generation gap” variety. The Universiade prep team included many passionate young people who had high hopes for this sporting event. They were determined to do their utmost, but could not quite adapt to the administration’s system. So, middle-aged representatives, Deputy Chiefs Chen and Zheng stepped in to play the roles of counsellor and advisor.

 

Deputy Chief Chen says that, after hearing them out, senior supervisors discovered that these young people made pretty good suggestions, and so they often allowed them to take charge. When Xue attended Venue Division meetings, he always invited the younger ones to lead the team cheer, get everyone to applaud themselves and the whole team, and have everyone give the Universiade two thumbs up. “The young ones were very creative and passionate, easy to get along with. Building team spirit only brings positive results, never negative ones.”

 

Committee advisors noticed it all. At first, Advisor Ji had worried and often sent text messages to remind Taipei Mayor Wen-je KO (柯文哲) that Taiwan would be tremendously affected by the success or failure of the Universiade. But when I saw how he devoted himself to this grand event, I was very glad.”

 

At the Chiefs of Division meetings every Friday morning, Advisor Chen saw the continued growth of the preparatory team. “They were getting into shape little by little,” he says emotionally. It was such a rush when they first took over the job, but they became a team with real fighting power.

 

So many behind-the-scene heroes made the success of this grand sporting event a point of their own personal pride. They worked tirelessly, tackled countless tasks, and ensured that the Taipei Universiade – the highest level of competition ever seen in Taiwan – was a job very well done indeed!

 

So many behind-the-scene heroes made the success of this grand sporting event a point of their own personal pride. They worked tirelessly, tackled countless tasks, and ensured that the Taipei Universiade – the highest level of competition ever seen in Taiwan – was a job very well done indeed!
Featuring top athletes and competitive events, the Universiade was a world-class sporting festival for everyone who came to watch it. (Photo: Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee)
▲Featuring top athletes and competitive events, the Universiade was a world-class sporting festival for everyone who came to watch it. (Photo: Taipei 2017 Universiade Organizing Committee)

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