Gold Plan Restructured to 4 Tiers; Lee Yang: Focus Resources on Top Athletes [Interview]
Sports Minister Lee Yang has revamped Taiwan's elite athlete 'Gold Plan,' reducing it from six tiers to four to concentrate resources on top medal contenders, while separating youth development into a different program.
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- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 09:56
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- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 22, 2026 at 10:09 (7 min after Collected)
(CNA reporter Li Chien-chung, Taipei, 22nd) As an Olympic double gold medalist, 30-year-old Sports Minister Lee Yang still has the vigor of youth on his face, but when talking about the future of Taiwan's sports development, he spoke seriously: "The Gold Plan is a reward mechanism; the cultivation part should return to the potential talent program."
Lee Yang and his old partner Wang Chi-lin were the first men's doubles pair in Olympic badminton history to successfully defend their gold medal. After taking off his jersey, Lee Yang made a magnificent transition, putting on an unfamiliar suit and trousers to become the first Minister in the history of Taiwan's Ministry of Sports, and also the youngest minister in history.
On the day of the exclusive interview with the Central News Agency, Lee Yang wore a dark suit jacket with a simple T-shirt underneath, and sneakers on his feet beneath his trousers, betraying the athlete's soul still housed within his body. A familiar smile radiated from his face, as if he were just greeting old friends.
Having been at the helm of the Ministry of Sports for over seven months, Lee Yang has reintroduced Taiwan's sports community to this young, decisive minister with a resolute approach. He not only uncovered 300 million NTD in inflated budgets from associations but also took bold steps to overhaul the long-standing "Gold Plan," hoping this powerful tool can help more elite athletes break through.
The Gold Plan, launched in 2018, was an elite program originally implemented to win medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Based on athletes' competitive performance and rankings, a tiered policy was drafted so that the best athletes would receive the most resources.
Because athletes in different tiers of the "Gold Plan" enjoy varying resources and benefits, and since athletes inevitably encounter injuries and slumps, they easily faced the crisis of being "demoted." This drew considerable criticism and complaints from athletes. Therefore, Lee Yang wanted to institutionalize the Gold Plan so that this powerful tool for assisting athletes wouldn't become a dangerous factor causing internal friction in Taiwan's sports circles.
Lee Yang revealed that since the Gold Plan is reviewed and approved at the end of November every year, "I told the National Sports Training Center that if the mechanism's details can remain unchanged for a whole year, they should not be changed, to avoid causing athletes to react and complain. As for the following March, there will be a mid-term report to warn athletes whose performance or qualifications might be at risk. This way, by the final report in September, everything is clearly documented in black and white for both sides, avoiding the past practice of always relying on personal favors."
Lee Yang emphasized that the Gold Plan has now been reduced from the original 6 tiers to tiers 1 to 4, concentrating the budget on top athletes so that everyone has more resources to use. As long as they meet the qualifications, they can benefit.
As for the future potential rookies aged 18 to 24 from the past, they will be returned to the potential talent section, which is further subdivided into varying excellence tiers from 1 to 3. He believes this could perhaps be funded using alternative state resources for training, or a completely new plan could be drafted.
During the interview, Lee Yang also smiled wryly and said: "When this decision was first made, it indeed provoked a lot of backlash from many people. Although I don't know what their reasons for opposing it were, the feedback from the athletes themselves has actually been good and acceptable."
Lee Yang stressed that the Gold Plan was always meant to be a "reward mechanism." Once athletes achieve results, they have the opportunity to stand on the Olympic stage. "We use the Gold Plan to help athletes become better. To me, this is absolutely not money spent on basic cultivation." (Editor: Lung Po-an)
Lee Yang and his old partner Wang Chi-lin were the first men's doubles pair in Olympic badminton history to successfully defend their gold medal. After taking off his jersey, Lee Yang made a magnificent transition, putting on an unfamiliar suit and trousers to become the first Minister in the history of Taiwan's Ministry of Sports, and also the youngest minister in history.
On the day of the exclusive interview with the Central News Agency, Lee Yang wore a dark suit jacket with a simple T-shirt underneath, and sneakers on his feet beneath his trousers, betraying the athlete's soul still housed within his body. A familiar smile radiated from his face, as if he were just greeting old friends.
Having been at the helm of the Ministry of Sports for over seven months, Lee Yang has reintroduced Taiwan's sports community to this young, decisive minister with a resolute approach. He not only uncovered 300 million NTD in inflated budgets from associations but also took bold steps to overhaul the long-standing "Gold Plan," hoping this powerful tool can help more elite athletes break through.
The Gold Plan, launched in 2018, was an elite program originally implemented to win medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Based on athletes' competitive performance and rankings, a tiered policy was drafted so that the best athletes would receive the most resources.
Because athletes in different tiers of the "Gold Plan" enjoy varying resources and benefits, and since athletes inevitably encounter injuries and slumps, they easily faced the crisis of being "demoted." This drew considerable criticism and complaints from athletes. Therefore, Lee Yang wanted to institutionalize the Gold Plan so that this powerful tool for assisting athletes wouldn't become a dangerous factor causing internal friction in Taiwan's sports circles.
Lee Yang revealed that since the Gold Plan is reviewed and approved at the end of November every year, "I told the National Sports Training Center that if the mechanism's details can remain unchanged for a whole year, they should not be changed, to avoid causing athletes to react and complain. As for the following March, there will be a mid-term report to warn athletes whose performance or qualifications might be at risk. This way, by the final report in September, everything is clearly documented in black and white for both sides, avoiding the past practice of always relying on personal favors."
Lee Yang emphasized that the Gold Plan has now been reduced from the original 6 tiers to tiers 1 to 4, concentrating the budget on top athletes so that everyone has more resources to use. As long as they meet the qualifications, they can benefit.
As for the future potential rookies aged 18 to 24 from the past, they will be returned to the potential talent section, which is further subdivided into varying excellence tiers from 1 to 3. He believes this could perhaps be funded using alternative state resources for training, or a completely new plan could be drafted.
During the interview, Lee Yang also smiled wryly and said: "When this decision was first made, it indeed provoked a lot of backlash from many people. Although I don't know what their reasons for opposing it were, the feedback from the athletes themselves has actually been good and acceptable."
Lee Yang stressed that the Gold Plan was always meant to be a "reward mechanism." Once athletes achieve results, they have the opportunity to stand on the Olympic stage. "We use the Gold Plan to help athletes become better. To me, this is absolutely not money spent on basic cultivation." (Editor: Lung Po-an)