The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Taiwan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Taiwanese Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 36 of which were born in Taiwan. This makes Taiwan the birth place of the 59th most number of Athletes behind Slovenia, and Georgia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Taiwanese Athletes of all time. This list of famous Taiwanese Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Taiwanese Athletes.

Photo of Yang Chuan-kwang

1. Yang Chuan-kwang (1933 - 2007)

With an HPI of 56.10, Yang Chuan-kwang is the most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages on wikipedia.

Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang (Amis: Maysang Kalimud, Chinese: 楊傳廣; pinyin: Yáng Chuánguǎng; July 10, 1933 – January 27, 2007), was a Taiwanese Olympian decathlete. Yang attended college at UCLA, where he trained and competed with teammate and Olympian Rafer Johnson and was coached by Elvin C. Drake.

Photo of Chi Cheng

2. Chi Cheng (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 54.58, Chi Cheng is the 2nd most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Chi Cheng (Chinese: 紀政; born March 15, 1944) is a Taiwanese politician and athlete in track and field. She was an Olympic medalist in 1968 and was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year for 1970. She was a former pentathlete turned sprinter.

Photo of Donald Scott

3. Donald Scott (b. )

With an HPI of 42.98, Donald Scott is the 3rd most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 7 different languages.

Donald Scott may refer to:

Photo of Chen Nien-chin

4. Chen Nien-chin (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 40.32, Chen Nien-chin is the 4th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Chen Nien-chin (Chinese: 陳念琴; pinyin: Chén Niànqín; born 10 May 1997) is a Taiwanese middleweight boxer. In 2016, she won a bronze medal at the world championships, but was eliminated in her first bout at the Rio Olympics. She is a native of Hualien County. Chen is of Austronesian Taiwanese descent, with one parent being Amis and the other being Bunun. Chen was diagnosed with stage II Hodgkin lymphoma cancer in 2019, recovered in 2020 after intensive chemotherapy. After recovery, she competed in 2020 and 2024 Olympics in Welterweight boxing.

Photo of Kuo Hsing-chun

5. Kuo Hsing-chun (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 40.09, Kuo Hsing-chun is the 5th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Kuo Hsing-chun (Chinese: 郭婞淳; pinyin: Guō Xìngchún; Amis name: Tana; born 26 November 1993) is a Taiwanese Amis weightlifter, Olympic gold medalist, five time world champion, two time Universiade champion, Asian Games champion, and five time Asian champion, competing in the 58 kg division until 2018 and 59 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. She has set 11 senior world records in her career.

Photo of Lin Yun-ju

6. Lin Yun-ju (b. 2001)

With an HPI of 39.14, Lin Yun-ju is the 6th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese: 林昀儒; pinyin: Lín Yún rú born 17 August 2001) is a Taiwanese table tennis player. He is a left-handed player who plays with the shakehand grip.

Photo of Chen Shih-hsin

7. Chen Shih-hsin (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 38.79, Chen Shih-hsin is the 7th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Chen Shih-hsin (Chinese: 陳詩欣; pinyin: Chén Shīxīn; born 16 November 1978) is the first Taiwanese athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympics. She won the gold medal in the women's 49-kilogram category in taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics on August 26. Chen was recognized as one of the Taiwanese Ten Outstanding Young Persons in 2001. Currently, she is an associate professor at University of Taipei. Chen is of Taiwanese Aboriginal descent, with her mother being a member of the Atayal tribe.

Photo of Cheng I-ching

8. Cheng I-ching (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 37.52, Cheng I-ching is the 8th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 13 different languages.

Cheng I-ching (Chinese: 鄭怡靜; pinyin: Zhèng Yíjìng; born 15 February 1992) is a Taiwanese table tennis player. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's singles event, in which she was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Li Xiaoxia, and as part of the Chinese Taipei team in the women's team event. Cheng helped Chinese Taipei woman's team win bronze at the World Team Championships and became the first Taiwanese-born medalist at the Woman's World Cup in 2016. Cheng represented Chinese Taipei in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the mixed doubles event alongside Lin Yun-ju, in which they won the bronze medal. She is currently also a master's degree student in the Department of Physical Education of Fu Jen Catholic University.

Photo of Chu Mu-yen

9. Chu Mu-yen (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 37.45, Chu Mu-yen is the 9th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Chu Mu-yen (Chinese: 朱木炎; pinyin: Zhū Mùyán; born 14 March 1982) is a Taiwanese Taekwondo athlete from Taiwan. He is the second Taiwanese athlete and the first male to win a gold medal at the Olympics, winning in men's under 58-kilogram class in Taekwondo at the Athens 2004 Games. In the 2008 Olympics, Chu won the bronze medal in the men's under 58-kilogram class in Taekwondo. He also won the gold medal in the 2003 World Taekwondo Championships.

Photo of Chen Wei-ling

10. Chen Wei-ling (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 36.87, Chen Wei-ling is the 10th most famous Taiwanese Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Chen Wei-ling (Chinese: 陳葦綾; pinyin: Chén Wěilíng; born 4 January 1982) is a Taiwanese Olympic weightlifter and powerlifter.

People

Pantheon has 36 people classified as Taiwanese athletes born between 1933 and 2002. Of these 36, 35 (97.22%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Taiwanese athletes include Chi Cheng, Donald Scott, and Chen Nien-chin. The most famous deceased Taiwanese athletes include Yang Chuan-kwang. As of April 2024, 24 new Taiwanese athletes have been added to Pantheon including Donald Scott, Chen Nien-chin, and Lin Yun-ju.

Living Taiwanese Athletes

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Deceased Taiwanese Athletes

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Newly Added Taiwanese Athletes (2024)

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