Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian's wife, Wu Shu-chen, will lead the Taiwan team to the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, Sept. 17-29, the Presidential Office reported Sunday.
The wheelchair-bound first lady is scheduled to lead the Chinese Taipei Paralympic Team to Athens Sept. 12 to prepare for the Games, in which 20 disabled Taiwan athletes will take part in five competition events.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General James Huang said at anews conference that Wu has been seriously concerned about the welfare and lives of the handicapped and the disadvantaged in Taiwan ever since she was paralyzed from waist down after being run over by a truck some 20 years ago.
According to Huang, President Chen has mixed feelings about his wife's trip; he is pleased on the one hand but a little bit heartbroken because of her health on the other.
Huang quoted President Chen as having said that Wu, who became an honorary chairman of the Chinese Taipei Sports Federation for the Disabled, would lead Chinese Taipei team to the 2004 Paralympics regardless of whether he won re-election or not.
According to Huang, Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) visited Taipei in August 2002, had met with President Chen and came away with a high regard for Wu for her devotion to sports activities of the country's handicapped.
Craven, himself a Paralympic athlete in the sports of wheelchair basketball and swimming, wrote Wu late last year to invite her to attend the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens as an honorary guest, Huang noted.