Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang ( Amis: Maysang Kalimud, ; July 10, 1933 – January 27, 2007), was a Taiwanese Olympian

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ� ...

. Yang attended college at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, where he trained and competed with teammate and Olympian

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

and was coached by Elvin C. Drake.

Early life

Yang played baseball at the Taitung Agricultural School and was coached by former

Kano baseball team The , officially the , was a Taiwanese baseball team established in 1928 in Japanese Formosa. The team was a motley crew that consisted of Han Chinese ( Hoklo and Hakka), Taiwanese indigenous people, and Japanese players. The high school baseball ...

player Chen Keng-yuan in the 1940s.

Career

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 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 gr ...

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, onc ...

. At the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

he placed eighth in the decathlon. He also competed in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. Yang's most memorable decathlon competition was a decathlon duel with

, his friend and teammate at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Ca ...

, during the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. 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 1500m. 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. Yang had confessed to fellow Olympian Chen An-hu before his death that he had purposely slowed down so Johnson, who would eventually be too old to compete, could win the gold medal; Yang won the silver medal. This claim had been contested by historian Lin Bo-wen, noting that Yang had been distracted as he was dating an Italian woman and would go out with her every day his entire duration at

. 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, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

at in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, just one day after David Tork had set the record at in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. 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 The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

. Yang attributed his failure to

Ma Chen-shan Ma Chen-shan (born 21 May 1926) is a Chinese former sports shooter. After escaping to Taiwan alongside the Republic of China, he competed as part of Taiwan in the 25 metre pistol event at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He is best known for defectin ...

poisoning him with a drink; Ma would defect to China after the event. He appeared in a number of films, including ''

Walk, Don't Run Walk, Don't Run may refer to: Music * "Walk, Don't Run" (instrumental), written and originally recorded by Johnny Smith, 1954; covered by Chet Atkins (1956) and the Ventures (1960) * ''Walk, Don't Run'' (The Ventures album), 1960 * ''Walk Don't ...

'' (1966), as well as the 1970 western '' There Was a Crooked Man...'' as a tough inmate named Ah-Ping who did not speak.

Later career and death

Yang served in the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

from 1983 to 1986 as a member of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

representing what became the

Lowland Aborigine Constituency The Lowland Aborigine constituency () is a multi-member constituency of the Legislative Yuan. Taiwanese indigenous people have elected representatives to Reserved seats, reserved legislative seats since the 1970s. Predecessors to both the Lowland ...

. As a legislator, he backed additional funding for international sporting competitions. After Yang joined the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

, he lost reelection. After Yang's retirement from athletics, he worked as a trainer and supervisor at the National Sports Training Center in Zuoying, where

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

and

Lee Fu-an Lee Fu-an (; born 4 June 1964) is a Taiwanese decathlete. In 1990, he set a national record for the pole vault at 5.30 meters. Hsieh Chia-han beat the record by one centimeter in 2011. Lee twice competed once at the World Championships in Athlet ...

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". ''Tong'' (Vietnamese: ʔdoŋ; Mon: doŋ) has an Austroasiatic substrate which means 'to da ...

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: * of or related to Taiwan **Culture of Taiwan **Geography of Taiwan ** Taiwanese cuisine *Languages of Taiwan ** Formosan languages ** Taiwanese Hokkien, also known as the Taiwanese language * Taiwanese people, residents of ...

. He was married to Daisy, a Chinese American, having 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 Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

, Yang was diagnosed with

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

. He died on January 27, 2007, from a massive stroke. He is buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the ...

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, t=蘋果日報, j=ping4 gwo2 jat6 bou3) was a Chinese-language newspaper published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by Jimmy Lai and part of Next Media, ''Apple Daily'' was known for its sensational headlines, ...

'', 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 for Taiwan Olympic silver medalists for Taiwan University of California, Los Angeles alumni Sportspeople 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 Taiwanese male javelin throwers Taiwanese male hurdlers Taiwanese indigenous sportspeople

Early life

Career

Later career and death

See also

References

External links