C.K. Yang was Taiwan's first athlete to win an Olympic medal, winning silver in the decathlon in Rome in 1960 despite pressure from China to block Taiwanese athletes. Throughout his career in sports and politics, he was a trailblazer for Taiwan's next generation of athletes.
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00:00A glimpse into Taiwan's sporting history.
00:03Legendary Yang Chuan-kuang, or CK Yang, here outside the country's former National Sports
00:07Training Center.
00:09Yang was known as the Iron Man of Asia, and at the 1960 Rome Games became the first ever
00:14athlete from Taiwan to win an Olympic medal.
00:17But he almost never made it to the starting line.
00:20Taiwan's president at the time, Chiang Kai-shek, threatened to pull out of the 1960 Games after
00:25the People's Republic of China successfully got the International Olympics Committee to
00:29block Taiwan from competing under its official name, the Republic of China.
00:33But with the potential of Yang winning a much-coveted medal for the country, Chiang backed down.
00:38China protested that we shouldn't use the Republic of China name.
00:45So that's why the men would, under protest, sign.
00:50And the whole world, of course, saw the sign.
00:54Taiwan was forced to compete under the name Formosa, the old Portuguese name for the island.
00:59Although it was allowed to use the Republic of China flag.
01:02At the Rome Games, Yang claimed victory with silver in the decathlon, only behind his American
01:07rival and friend, Rayford Johnson.
01:09When he returned to Taiwan, he received a warm welcome from the country's leaders and
01:13adoring fans.
01:29But even after winning, opportunities for Yang to compete on the global stage weren't
01:44guaranteed.
01:45In 1962, China blocked Taiwanese athletes from participating in the Asian Games held
01:49in Jakarta.
01:59Yang was able to compete in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but shortly after arriving, he came
02:08down with a fever and aching bones.
02:11It was far from a simple case of the flu.
02:30After being drugged, Yang would end up fifth in his event, losing out on another shot at
02:34Olympic glory.
02:36I was crying, too.
02:37It was a broken hearted.
02:38My wife was waiting outside when I come out, and we both cried together.
02:48Yang returned to Taiwan for rehabilitation, and he later became a coach for Taiwan's Olympic
02:53track and field team.
02:54But even then, politics was never far away, with Taiwan missing out in the 1976 games
02:59in Montreal, once more under pressure from Beijing.
03:03He would later try his hand in politics, with the goal of raising funds for Olympic
03:06training in Taiwan.
03:08But his career as a politician didn't last long.
03:19While in his lifetime, CK Yang found it hard to escape the impact of politics on sport.
03:24It's his athletic achievements and role in opening up space for Taiwan's athletes on
03:28the world stage that are remembered today.
03:31After many decades using basic facilities, Taiwan's Olympic hopefuls can now train at
03:36this state-of-the-art sports center in the country's south.
03:39And Taiwan's athletes haven't missed a game since 1984, after a deal was struck to allow
03:44them to compete under the name Chinese Taipei, allowing the legacy of a trailblazer like
03:49CK Yang to be carried forward by a new generation of sporting stars.
03:53Kama Hsu and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.