Fu Chao-hsuan: Taiwan Men's Track and Field's 60-Year Jump

30-second overview: On the evening of September 27, 2026, rain fell during the men's high jump final at the Nagoya Asian Games. Fu Chao-hsuan cleared 2.25 metres on his first attempt; the Indian competitor who also cleared that height succeeded on the second try, and the South Korean competitor failed twice. Gold went to Fu. This is Taiwan's third gold medal at the Games and marks the first time in 60 years—since Wu A-min's decathlon at the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games—that a Taiwanese male track and field athlete has stood atop an Asian Games podium.

Keywords: Fu Chao-hsuan, high jump, Nagoya Asian Games, Wu A-min, Taiwan track and field

The First Attempt in the Rain

On the evening of September 27, 2026, the men's high jump final at the Nagoya Asian Games. Rain fell steadily at the venue, and the ground was quite slippery.¹

Fu Chao-hsuan stepped onto the approach, his rhythm of acceleration and takeoff undisturbed by the weather, clearing 2.25 metres on his first attempt. He pumped his fist in celebration as he landed.¹ The Indian competitor who also challenged that height succeeded on the second attempt, while the South Korean competitor failed twice. The gold medal thus went to the athlete who succeeded on the first try.¹

After the competition, he did not attribute all the credit to that single jump. Instead, he first critiqued his own energy management: "I think the strategy could be adjusted a bit, because in a competition like this, honestly toward the end I was running out of energy. I should probably discuss with the coaching staff how to conserve energy and still perform well on the remaining attempts."¹

During the medal ceremony, wearing the Republic of China Olympic Committee flag, he remembered his emotions clearly when the flag anthem played: "At that moment I was holding back my emotions, and toward the end I got a bit emotional, almost tearing up, but I kept pushing it down. I saved the excitement to process later—I was just very happy."¹

Sixty Years Ago That Gold Was Decathlon; This One Is Single-Event High Jump

This gold medal is Taiwan's third at the Games and represents Taiwan men's track and field's first Asian Games gold in 60 years.¹²

The last Taiwanese male track and field athlete to win an Asian Games gold was Wu A-min at the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games, who won the men's decathlon. For men's high jump specifically, Taiwan's last Asian Games medal dates back to 1990, when Liao Hsüeh-sung won bronze.² In other words, this medal 60 years later comes from a different event: Wu A-min won decathlon back then, while Fu Chao-hsuan won single-event high jump.²

His Coach Called Him an All-Around Genius, but He Spent Years Caught Between Injury and Recovery

Fu Chao-hsuan is currently 23 years old and 196 centimetres tall. His mother was a volleyball player; his father claims to have been a high jumper. Among three brothers, Fu is the second and the tallest.³

He began competing in combined track and field events in primary school. By junior high, he had already exceeded 180 centimetres; he focused on high jump only after entering senior high school. He explained why he loves the sport: "This sport lets you fly through the air, and it lets the whole crowd focus on watching just me compete."³

In senior high school, he trained at Taoyuan High School under coach Chen Hung-chieh, himself a product of Taiwan's high jump tradition. Fu's performance improved from just over 1.9 metres in his first year to clearing 2.19 metres during second-year training. At 16, he represented Taoyuan City and won the men's high jump gold medal at the National Games.³

Chen Hung-chieh's assessment was direct: "Chao-hsuan has explosive power and trains seriously—even in high school you could see he was an all-around genius." The coach also noted that Fu cleared 3.80 metres on his first attempt at pole vault; had he trained decathlon from the start, he would have had a real shot at gold today.³

After entering the senior ranks with the reputation of a "gifted high school athlete," Fu spent years struggling in a cycle of injury, recovery, and competition. He described those years himself:

"My performance plateaued for a long time; I was always recovering from injury. That low period was really hard to endure, but fortunately my teammates and coaches stayed with me, and I finally made a breakthrough."³

At the 2024 National Collegiate Athletic Games, Ye Po-ting, competing for National Formosa University, cleared 2.30 metres and broke the national record that had stood for 9 years. For Fu, this was another blow: "When Po-ting broke the national record first, it really hit me hard. It took me a long time to get over it. I kept asking myself why I couldn't improve further—I felt like I'd fallen so far behind."³

2.25 Metres Ties His Season Best, but He Says It's Not Enough

His Asian Games jump of 2.25 metres ties his season best, but his personal record is actually 2.27 metres.⁴

After returning home, he said at a homecoming banquet that days later he was still asking himself "did I really win gold?"—his mood has only gradually shifted to enjoyment. He also mentioned not breaking his personal best, but seizing the opportunity when it came: "I hope to show everyone that Taiwan track and field can be amazing too."⁴

As for diet control, he joked that after winning gold he gave himself 3 or 4 days of indulgence, eating fried and oily foods "without discrimination," and the first thing he did upon returning to Taiwan was buy bubble tea. But there are still many competitions ahead to work toward.⁴ Next year, besides the World University Games in South Korea, there are the Asian Championships and World Championships. He said these competitions are coming up fast and he needs to make the most of his time to improve.⁴

That Olympic Dream from Primary School

Looking ahead, he brought the conversation back to his primary school self: "When I first started training in track and field in primary school, I wondered if I could make the Olympics, maybe even stand on the podium. Growing up, I learned how hard the Olympics really are, but now that I've won an Asian Games gold medal, it makes me feel like that childhood dream has a real chance of coming true."³

From Wu A-min's decathlon in 1966 to Fu Chao-hsuan's high jump in 2026, Taiwan men's track and field's timeline had a 60-year gap in the middle. Filling it is a 23-year-old athlete who once found himself stuck in post-injury recovery, watching someone else break the national record first.²³

Further reading:

• Taiwan Sports Development and the Olympics — Understanding Taiwan athletes' place on the international stage through the name "Chinese Taipei."

References