Historic Battle: C.K. Yang and Rafer Johnson at the 1960 Olympics
Taiwan's C.K. Yang was the first person from his country to win an Olympic medal. At the 1960 games in Rome, he faced off with his friend and competitor, Rafer Johnson, from the United States. The two sports legends battled for the gold medal in a sporting event that would go down in history.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A historic battle for Olympic glory. Taiwan's Yang Chuan-kuang, or C.K. Yang,
00:05known globally as the Iron Man of Asia, versus Rayford Johnson from the United States.
00:10The two athletes reached their biggest milestone in the 1960 Rome Summer Olympic decathlon event.
00:15Both shouldered the weight of not only representing their countries,
00:18but also their respective communities. Yang, an indigenous Amis, and Johnson,
00:23an African American. They first met four years earlier, at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
00:29He was my hero before, my idol. When the first time I saw him in Melbourne,
00:36boy he was a giant, and I was so skinny guy.
00:40In the lead up to the 1960 Olympics, Taiwan's government sent Yang to the U.S. to train
00:45with Johnson at UCLA. There, they developed a competitive bond.
00:50I was lucky that I went to UCLA, practiced with Rayford, and we became friends.
00:56The pair trained for two years together, finally facing off in Rome.
01:00As decathlon athletes, they had to train in 10 different track and field events.
01:04Decathlon basically determined the greatest athlete in the world.
01:08Ten events, you compete at the highest level against athletes from all around the world,
01:12and if you come out on top of those events, you are widely considered to be the best athlete
01:17in the world. In total, Yang won seven of the ten events, but Johnson still came out on top,
01:24pulling ahead with big leads in events like shot put and discus.
01:28In the last event, the 1500 meter race, both Yang and Johnson gave everything they had.
01:33Afterward, the two came together in an athlete's embrace,
01:36a moment captured in one of the most iconic photos in sports history.
01:43We walked together for a while, leaning on each other physically,
01:47the way we had leaned on each other emotionally for the past two years.
01:51So great was my respect and admiration for him. I just wanted to be next to him at that moment.
01:59They would remain close friends for the rest of their lives, calling themselves the two-man
02:03United Nations. When Yang was diagnosed with liver cancer, Johnson was there by his side,
02:08and at Yang's funeral in 2007, Johnson delivered a eulogy to his companion.
02:13He had a heart bigger than any athlete I've ever known, a great champion, and a great man.
02:27In the end, these two legendary athletes and the connection they made exemplified the capacity of
02:32sports to create deep, lifelong bonds, across countries and cultures.
02:37Kama Xu and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.
02:42you