by The Physical Education Office

The 2019 National Intercollegiate Athletic Games were held in inclement weather testing the willpower of participating athletes. NCCU’s Ni Taili (倪泰麗), a student of International Relations, and Yi-Chieh Chen (陳奕傑), a student of Arabic Language and Culture, both posted outstanding performances, winning gold medals in the women’s 10,000m and 400m hurdles, and following in the footsteps of alumnus Huei-Chen Wang (王惠珍), known as the “queen of winds”. It was a historic and exhilarating moment, as Yi-Chieh Chen rewrote the 36-year record for women’s 400m hurdles with a time of 66.77seconds.

Chen was already a potential middle distance athlete in junior high school. Yet as a result of severe jogger’s heel and low back pain, she left track and field until her passion was reignited again in college. In a continuous cycle of training, injury and rehabilitation, she relied on her coach to help her apply two long pain relief patches, and tried convincing herself the injuries did not hurt. In 2018, she completed the 400m hurdles in 61.95 seconds and won a bronze medal in the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games, but was unable to take part in the 800m hurdles.

Unable to train at sustained high intensity but hoping to try more technical items, Chen chose the 400m hurdles. However, “We only had 7 ancient hurdles here,” said Chen. Moreover, the track and field ground was being restored in the second semester, so she had to go other places to train. In addition to the two-day team training, her coach designed a three-day individual training course for her, with the training and commute time taking nearly 4 hours. She often had to leave for NTNU or the Taipei Stadium straight after class.

“The process was really hard,” Chen said. With old injuries still troubling her and heat stroke from the scorching weather, she underperformed in the preliminaries three days before the games. So, when she eventually won the gold medal and broke the record, she cherished the experience all the more.

She felt very lucky to receive assistance from 2 coaches: Coach Yu-Chao Hung (洪鈺釗), who studied Mathematical Sciences at NCCU, provided guidance in training and race strategies, while former coach Chieh-Ju Lu (呂潔如) served as a psychological counselor, settling her nerves by talking to her before the race. Both coaches helped Chen tremendously.

Chen's plans to go to the Middle East for further studies will prevent her from attending next year's Games, so she told herself she must win this year. This placed a lot of pressure on her shoulders, yet the results have given her the motivation to “continue trying”. Chen may keep training while learning abroad, preparing for the 2021 Games with hopes to shine once again on the running track.