Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang ( Amis: Maysang Kalimud, ) (July 10, 1933 – January 27, 2007), was an Olympic decathlete from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. Yang attended college at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

where he trained and competed with team mate and Olympian

Rafer Johnson Rafer Lewis Johnson (August 18, 1934 – December 2, 2020) was an American decathlon, decathlete and film actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won a gold in the 1955 Pan Amer ...

and was coached by Elvin C. Drake.

Biography

Known as the "Iron Man of Asia," Yang won the decathlon event at the 1954 and 1958 Asian Games, as well as silver medals in the

110 m hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

and the bronze medal in the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

. At the 1956 Summer Olympics he placed eighth in the decathlon. He also competed in the high jump. Yang's most memorable decathlon competition was a decathlon duel with

, his friend and teammate at

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, during the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The lead swung back and forth between them. Finally, after nine events, Johnson led Yang by a small margin, but Yang was known to be better in the final event, the 1500 m. According to The Telegraph (UK), "legend has it" that Drake gave coaching to both men, with him advising Johnson to stay close to Yang and be ready for "a hellish sprint" at the end, and advising Yang to put as much distance between himself and Johnson before the final sprint as possible. Johnson ran his personal best at 4:49.7 and finished just 1.2 sec slower than Yang, winning the gold by 58 points with an Olympic record total of 8,392 points. Both athletes were exhausted and drained and came to a stop a few paces past the finish line leaning against each other for support. Yang was the first Olympic medallist in his country's history. In 1963, Yang set a world indoor record in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

at in Portland, just one day after

David Tork David Tork (born August 25, 1934) is retired male pole vaulter from the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North Am ...

had set the record at in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. His record only lasted a week. Later that year he finally took the decathlon world record from Johnson at the Mt. SAC Relays, coached by William Neufeld. He was the first man to break the 9,000 barrier under the old scale. When the new tables were re-evaluated, this same score was the first to break 8,000 points under the new system. To date, he is the only athlete not from the United States or Europe to hold the decathlon world record. Yang placed fifth in the decathlon at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He appeared in a number of films, including ''

Walk, Don't Run ''Walk, Don't Run'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, and Jim Hutton. The film, which was Grant's last film role, is set during the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It is a remake ...

'' (1966), as well as the 1970 western '' There Was a Crooked Man...'' as a tough inmate named Ah-Ping who did not speak. Yang served in the Legislative Yuan from 1983 to 1986 as a member of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

representing what became the Lowland Aborigine Constituency. He later spoke in support of the Democratic Progressive Party. After Yang's retirement from athletics, he worked as a trainer and supervisor of National Sports Training Center in Zuoying, where

Ku Chin-shui Ku Chin-shui (, 15 January 1960 – 25 May 2016) was an Amis Taiwanese decathlete and pole vaulter. He medaled for Chinese Taipei at the Asian Athletics Championships six times, winning one gold medal, two silver medals, and three bronze medals. ...

and Lee Fu-an were trained. After that, Yang converted to Taoism from Christianity, and served as a Taoist priest and a

Tangki Tongji (; Tâi-lô: tâng-ki) or Jitong () is a Chinese folk religious practitioner, usually translated as a " spirit medium", "oracle", or "shaman". This word compounds ''tong'' "child; youth; boy servant" and ''ji'' "to divine" (cf. ''fu ...

in a Taoist temple in his native place for 20 years. Yang was a member of the Amis, one of the sixteen officially recognized peoples of

Taiwanese aborigines Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China ...

. He had a wife, Daisy, and two sons: Cedric Yang (Yang Sui-yuen) and C.K. Yang Jr. and three grandchildren: Madison Yang, Carmen Yang, and Dorothy Yang. In 2001, while serving as president of the National Sports Training Center at Kaohsiung, Yang was diagnosed with liver cancer. He died in 2007 from a massive stroke. He is buried in Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

References

External links

* ''The Games of the XVII Olympiad, Rome 1960: Official Report of the Organizing Committee'', The Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVII Olympiad, 1960. *
Volume 1
Yang's entry and vital statistics in the List of Athletes, p. 832 *
Volume 2 Part 1
results and nine photographs of Yang during and after the decathlon competition, pp. 160–178

Asian Iron Man: Yang Chuan-kuang dies of illness
''

Apple Daily ''Apple Daily'' ( zh, link=no, 蘋果日報) was a popular tabloid published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by Jimmy Lai, it was one of the best-selling Chinese language newspapers in Hong Kong.

'', January 29, 2007 * {{Authority control 1933 births 2007 deaths Amis people Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Taiwanese decathletes Taiwanese male pole vaulters Olympic athletes of Taiwan Olympic silver medalists for Taiwan University of California, Los Angeles alumni People from Taitung County Burials at Ivy Lawn Cemetery Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 Asian Games Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Chinese Taipei Asian Games silver medalists for Chinese Taipei Asian Games bronze medalists for Chinese Taipei Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1954 Asian Games Medalists at the 1958 Asian Games Converts to pagan religions from Christianity Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners Taiwanese sportsperson-politicians Aboriginal Members of the Legislative Yuan Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Taiwanese Taoists

Biography

See also

References

External links