Taiwanese gymnastics reached a historic milestone in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Oct. 25, when Tang Chia-hung won the men’s horizontal bar final at the 54th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Nicknamed the “King of the Cat Leap,” Tang scored 14.966 points to become the first gymnast representing Taiwan to win gold at the World Championships, according to the official competition results.
Tang Chia-hung wins with a high-difficulty routine
According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), Tang outperformed elite gymnasts from around the world to claim the horizontal bar title. Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka won silver with 14.800 points, while Russian gymnast Sergei Naidin took bronze with the same score after a tiebreaker. Japan’s Shohei Kawakami finished fourth with 14.600 points.
In the final, Tang raised the difficulty value of his routine to 6.600, tying Colombia’s Ángel Barajas for the highest among the eight finalists. He performed a smooth, flowing routine, earning an execution score of 8.366. Although he took two steps forward on landing, incurring a deduction, his final score of 14.966 was enough to secure the gold medal.
Tang had recently finished fifth in the horizontal bar final at the Nagoya Asian Games after falling from the bar. This time, with the help of coach Huang Po-jui and a sports psychologist, he worked to regain his composure, put the disappointment behind him, and rise to the top.
Before Tang’s victory, Taiwan’s best results at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were two silver medals and one bronze: Chang Feng-chih’s vault silver in 1993 and Lee Chih-kai’s pommel horse bronze and silver in 2018 and 2019, respectively. During the medal ceremony, Tang was moved to tears as Taiwan’s delegation song played and the team flag was raised.
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Huang told CNA that the pressure had kept him from sleeping well in the days leading up to the final. “Although there was inevitably nervousness and pressure, we continued training as usual after the qualifying round and made no special adjustments,” he said.
Huang said Tang used the same routine he had performed in Nagoya. “Tang is already very familiar with this routine, so he kept practicing it after the qualifying round,” he said. “His performance on the bar was almost perfect, but he released the bar too early during the dismount. This caused his trajectory to carry him forward, which is why he took two steps on landing and lost quite a few points.”
A calmer approach after the Asian Games
After his disappointing Asian Games performance, Tang worked with his coach and a sports psychologist to rethink how he approached major finals. “I just told myself to treat the final as practice, without making too much of a ceremony out of it, and to compete in a relaxed way,” he told CNA. He said the change helped him manage the pressure.
He also tried to regard the horizontal bar final as simply one event in the all-around competition rather than an occasion demanding something extraordinary. “From the results of these World Championships, this approach seems to have worked quite well,” he said, adding that it gave him greater confidence ahead of next year’s Olympic qualification events.
Wife travels to support and encourage him
According to CNA, the pressure of competing in two major events in succession meant Tang was not in his best condition during the first week of preparations. His wife, Tseng Jo-yu, arrived in Rotterdam the day before the competition and became an important source of support.
“During the training camp abroad, I was physically and mentally quite exhausted. I felt that I wasn’t in particularly good form,” Tang said. “But after my wife arrived, simply having a meal and chatting with her made me feel as though I had recharged physically, mentally, and spiritually. I felt alive again.”
Tang joked that his wife was sometimes like his “invisible coach.” “She understands my physical and mental condition very well. Sometimes, when I get too carried away or overly excited during a competition, she helps me hit the brakes. When I’m feeling low, she keeps encouraging me and gives me a lot of motivation,” he said.
Tang’s wife attended the World Championships final to cheer him on and was spotted holding a cheering sign by the broadcast cameras. “I really put her in a difficult position,” he joked, “because she is actually quite a low-key person.”
Working toward Olympic gold
Huang said Taiwan’s delegation departed for the Netherlands on Oct. 2 and spent a week training at a local club before moving to Rotterdam for the competition. The gymnasts had been under considerable mental strain since the Asian Games and would take an extended break after returning home.
“Beginning next year, we’ll likely plan a training camp in the United States or take part in more cup competitions, to get used to the environment and atmosphere there and prepare early for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” Huang told CNA.
Tang, who studies at National Taiwan Normal University, won bronze on the horizontal bar at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Having won gold medals at the Asian Games, World University Games, Asian Championships, and now the World Championships, he has one major title missing from his collection: Olympic gold.
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