Wu Chuanyu () (August 21, 1928 – October 28, 1954) was an Indonesian-born Chinese swimmer who competed in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

in 1948 and 1952. In his second Games, he became the first competitor for the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in Olympic history.

Biography

He was born in

Salatiga Salatiga ( jv, ꦯꦭꦠꦶꦒ) is a city in Central Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of and had a population of 192,322 at the 2020 Census. Located between the cities of Semarang and Surakarta, and administratively an independent c ...

, Central Java, Dutch East Indies (now

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

) on August 21, 1928, the son of immigrants from

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, a coastal province of southeastern China. He swam from an early age, playing as a child on the riverside of Surakarta. In 1941, at the age of 13, he performed beyond all expectations at an important swimming competition in Indonesia, setting a new Indonesian record for the 200 metre butterfly and beating the Dutch champion. Wu was one of the 26 competitors—and the lone swimmer—representing the Republic of China at the 1948 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Wu swam in the heats of the men's 100 metre freestyle, finishing fifth in his heat with the 32nd fastest time overall (1:03.5). In the fall of 1951, at the age of 23, Wu represented Indonesia at the

3rd World Festival of Youth and Students The 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) was held from 5 to 19 August 1951 in Berlin, capital city of the then German Democratic Republic, and organised by World Federation of Democratic Youth. The motto of the festival was "Peace and ...

in East Berlin, winning a silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, with a time of 1:12.8. At the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Wu was part of the 40-member delegation from the People's Republic of China. The government decided to send the Olympic team only one day prior to the opening ceremonies, and the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and football teams arrived too late to compete, making Wu the only competitor for China at those Games. Wu swam in the heats of the men's 100 metre

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

on July 30, and finished fifth in his heat with the 28th fastest time overall (1:12.3). In August 1953, Wu competed at the

4th World Festival of Youth and Students The 4th World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) was held from 2 to 14 August 1953 in Bucharest, capital city of the then Romanian People's Republic. The World Federation of Democratic Youth organized this festival against a background of wh ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. He won the 100 metre backstroke with a time of 1:06.4. His victory was so unexpected that the swimming organizers did not have a recording of the

Chinese national anthem The "March of the Volunteers" (), originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was ...

and had to borrow one from the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

organizers. This medal ceremony was the first time that the

flag of the People's Republic of China The National Flag of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Five-star Red Flag, is a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in an arc set off tow ...

was raised at an international sporting event. In 1954, Wu and the entire Chinese swimming team was sent to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

to receive training. While in Budapest, Wu attended the 12th World Student Games.

Death

Wu returned to China, where he attended the first National People's Congress. After the conclusion of the Congress, Wu died in an airplane crash in October 28, 1954 midnight in

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Si ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, at the age of 26 while traveling to Budapest to resume his training. The flight was from Beijing to Moscow with multiple stops in between with different flight numbers. Among those, flight 136 section was from

Irkutsk Airport Irkutsk International Airport (Russian: Международный Аэропорт Иркутск) is an international airport on the outskirts of Irkutsk, Russia, at a distance of 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Lake Baikal. Operations The ai ...

(IKT/UIII) to

Krasnoyarsk Airport Krasnoyarsk International Airport (russian: Международный аэропорт Красноярск) , is a major airport in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, northwest of Krasnoyarsk. , it was the biggest in Russia in passenger traffic. Hist ...

(KJA/UNKL), Russia. The plane flew into the side of Mount Sivukha. On board were nine foreign passengers (the other eight were 4 Poles and 4 Cypriots). For years after his death, his skills were extolled by

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

chairman

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Chuanyu 1928 births 1954 deaths Chinese male backstroke swimmers Chinese male freestyle swimmers Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian emigrants to China Indonesian male swimmers Olympic swimmers of China Swimmers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1952 Summer Olympics People from Salatiga Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Soviet Union Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1954 20th-century Chinese people 20th-century Indonesian people