Taiwan won four gold, four silver and eight bronze medals at the 40th WorldSkills Competition that took place Sept. 1-7 in Calgary, Canada, Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) officials said Thursday. Taiwan placed fourth among the 51 participating countries and regions in the overall standings, trailing only South Korea, Switzerland and Japan, according to the officials. Of the four gold medals, two were won by students from National University of Science and Technology. Lin Wei-hao took gold in the sheet metal technology category, while Hsu Hsia-chiang earned his in the electronics category. Chen Jun-wie, a student at National Taipei University of Technology, took gold in the polymechanics/automation category, and Lai Chien-wen, a student at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology took his in the cabinetmaking category. All the gold medalists will be granted cash awards of NT$500,000 by the government. Aside from the medalists, 17 other Taiwan representatives won recognition for their excellent performances, the officials added. This year, the biennial international competition aimed at promoting vocational education and training worldwide, brought together thousands of competitors aged 17 to 22 from around the world to participate in 45 skill categories, such as autobody repair, carpentry, IT network support, mobile robotics and landscape gardening. After winning gold, Lin said he never thought he would amount to much because he had performed poorly on tests since junior high school. However, he eventually discovered his talent and interest after entering a vocational senior high school where he began learning the application of sheet metal technology. Pointing to himself as an example, he encouraged students who perform poorly academically to try to find their areas of interest to pursue their studies. 