Welcome to the 8th World Games 2009 here in Kaohsiung. It is my pleasure to welcome the President of the Republic of China Mr. Ying-Jeou Ma and all our honored guests.
We welcome our athletes, coaches, administrators and our international
federations, our supporters and visitors and thank you for helping us to make the 8th edition of The world Games exciting and highly competitive. I also thank the International Olympic Committee for having Mr. Chick Igaya Vice President of the IOC representing President Rogge and the Olympic Movement.
To all our International Olympic Committee members and those National
Olympic Committees who continue to support these sports and athletes,
we are indeed grateful. I want to pay special tribute to the IOC member of Chinese Taipei Mr. C.K. Wu who is your representative and had the task of being a member of the IWGA/KOC Coordination Committee reporting directly to President Rogge. We thank the Chinese Taipei National Olympic Committee President Thomas Tsai and his staff.
We thank the Taipei government and the Kaohsiung City who through many of their departments have supported this event. I am sure with all their efforts for the next 10 days we will witness first class competitions. My compliments go to the Taipei government and the Kaohsiung City for the environmental considerations. The best example is this new stadium, which is completely ECO friendly.
I do want to thank the media and sponsors and to all our volunteers we could never have delivered this event without your help.
We have with us this evening one of Chinese Taipei’s most recognized and beloved athlete and role model for all athletes Mrs. Chi Chen.  All the athletes will once again have the opportunity to learn of each others’ cultures, build bridges and make friends.
To our athletes, there will be winners and losers; however to have the opportunity to compete in this multi-sport event makes everyone a winner. I wish all of you the best of luck.
I have now the honor of inviting Mr. Ying-Jeou Ma, President of the Republic of China to proclaim open the 8th World Games.