Taipei - Taiwan on Saturday hailed its first medal at the Beijing Olympics, a bronze won by Chen Wei-ling in the women's 48kg weightlifting competition.
President Ma Ying-jeou congratulated Chen, while neighbours gathered outside her home in Tainan City setting off firecrackers and pasting a huge piece of red paper on her gate proclaiming "Pride of Taiwan."
Chen hefted a total 196kg, while Chen Xiexia took gold for China with a record 212kg, ahead of Turkey's Sibel Ozkan with 199kg.
Chen's mother said Wei-ling had been training for 11 years and suffered many injuries. "I am excited because my best hope was the fifth or sixth place," she said.
Taiwan hopes to improve its performance from 2004 in Athens at the Beijing Games. The record at Athens was two gold, two silver and one bronze.
Taiwan offers generous awards to its Olympians - from 12 million Taiwan dollars (387,000 US dollars) for a gold medalist to 900,000 Taiwan dollars (29,000 US dollars) for seventh and eighth place. (dpa)
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