This is why Taiwan is called Chinese Taipei at the Olympic Games

Watching the Paris 2024 Olympics and wondering who on Earth (or where on Earth) is Chinese Taipei? You're not alone.

There are 60 athletes representing Chinese Taipei at the Games and all are Taiwanese citizens, but they do not compete under the Taiwanese flag.

Why do Taiwanese athletes compete under Chinese Taipei?

As is often the case with politics it's a long and complicated tale, but essentially it dates back to the Chinese Revolution in 1949 when Taiwan and the People's Republic of China — commonly referred to as 'China' — disputed who was the "one China".

"There was a discussion about who should really be China. Communist China had a one-China policy," Tom Heenan from Monash University explained to Yahoo News.

Taiwan, which lies to the southeast of mainland China, has competed in the Olympics under many names due to this conflict through the 1900s, including Taiwan, China, the Republic of China, Formosa, and now Chinese Taipei.

Chinese Taipei was first introduced into the Olympics in 1984 when the Games were hosted by Los Angeles. Taiwan had boycotted the 1980 Games due to an agreement China made with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"There was an agreement that Taiwan would enter the Olympics as Chinese Taipei, and China would keep the name China... It is really complicated, you’ve got to go through every Olympics to actually get the full story," Heenan said.

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Country vote against changing 'Chinese Taipei' Olympic name

In 2018 Taiwanese citizens voted in a referendum and decided against changing 'Chinese Taipei' back to 'Taiwan' — which had been in the Olympic Games during the 1960s. This resulted in athletes continuing to represent 'Chinese Taipei' in the Olympics and this is why the 60 athletes in Paris are competing under this name.

"People voted against it because they think that Taiwan will be excluded from the Olympic Games if they change their name, because China has more power," Heenan explained.

Any athletes who make it onto the podium have the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag flown and the official Olympic anthem played, rather than Taiwan's national anthem.

"Chinese Taipei is an Olympic committee, it has its own flag and it's not a flag of the country [Taiwan]. That's how they get around it," Heenan said.

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