Richard Wah Sung Tom (November 8, 1920 – February 20, 2007) was a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

bantamweight weightlifter. He won a silver medal at the 1947 World Championships and a bronze at the 1948 Olympics. In 1952 he won his only national AAU title and later served as a weightlifting official. Tom was a World War II veteran. He was born in China, but his family moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

when he was a boy. He was the first Chinese-American to compete for the United States at the Olympics.

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* 1920 births 2007 deaths Weightlifters from Guangzhou American male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in weightlifting Olympic medalists in weightlifting American military personnel of World War II Republic of China (1912–1949) emigrants to the United States Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics People with acquired American citizenship Hawaii people of Chinese descent World Weightlifting Championships medalists {{US-weightlifting-bio-stub