View source for Yang Chuan-kwang

{{Short description|Taiwanese decathlete (1933–2007)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Yang (surname)|Yang]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name           = 
| image          = Yang Chuan-kwang 1960e.jpg
| image_size     = 
| caption        = CK Yang at the 1960 Olympics
| birth_name     = 
| fullname       = 
| nationality    = 
| residence      = 
| birth_date     = {{birth date |1933|7|10|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Taitō Prefecture|Taitung County]], [[Japanese Taiwan]]
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2007|1|27|1933|7|10|mf=y}}
| death_place    = Los Angeles, California, US
| height         = 186 cm
| weight         = 80 kg
| sport          = Athletics
| event = [[Decathlon]]
| pb = {{ubl|HJ – 2.02 m (1956)|PV – 5.00 m (1963)|Decathlon – 8089/(9121) (1963)}}
| club           = 
| alma_mater = 
| retired        =
| olympics       = 
| highestranking = 
| show-medals    = yes
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalCountry | {{ROC}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Rome]] | [[Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics|Decathlon]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Asian Games]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1954 Asian Games|1954 Manila]] | [[Athletics at the 1954 Asian Games|Decathlon]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1958 Asian Games|1958 Tokyo]] | [[Athletics at the 1958 Asian Games|Decathlon]]}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1958 Asian Games|1958 Tokyo]] | [[Athletics at the 1958 Asian Games|110 m hurdles]]}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1958 Asian Games|1958 Tokyo]] | [[Athletics at the 1958 Asian Games|Long jump]]}}
{{MedalBronze| [[1958 Asian Games|1958 Tokyo]] | [[Athletics at the 1958 Asian Games|400 m hurdles]]}}
}}
[[File:Yang Chuan-kwang 1960d.jpg|thumb|Chuan-kwang at the 1960 Olympics]]

'''Yang Chuan-kwang''', or '''C.K. Yang''' ([[Amis language|Amis]]: Maysang Kalimud, {{zh|t=楊傳廣|p=Yáng Chuánguǎng}}; July 10, 1933 – January 27, 2007), was a Taiwanese Olympian [[decathlete]].<ref name=sr>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ya/yang-c-k-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173305/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ya/yang-c-k-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |title=Yang C. K. |access-date=February 15, 2012}}</ref> Yang attended college at [[UCLA]], where he trained and competed with teammate and Olympian [[Rafer Johnson]] 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]] player Chen Keng-yuan in the 1940s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Andrew|title=Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|date=2015|pages=79}}</ref>

==Career==
Known as the "Iron Man of Asia,"<ref>{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=An Olympic summer to remember |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2015/08/30/2003626509 |access-date=August 26, 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=August 30, 2015}}</ref> Yang won the decathlon event at the 1954 and 1958 Asian Games, as well as silver medals in the [[110 metres hurdles|110 m hurdles]] and [[long jump]] and the bronze medal in the [[400 metres hurdles|400 m hurdles]]. At the [[1956 Summer Olympics]] he placed eighth in the decathlon.  He also competed in the [[Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump|high jump]].<ref name=sr/>

Yang's most memorable decathlon competition was a decathlon duel with [[Rafer Johnson]], his friend and teammate at the [[University of California at Los Angeles]], during the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] in [[Rome]]. 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.<ref name=sr/> 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 [[Rome]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guo |first=Kuang-chao |last2=Lee |first2=Shu-de |date=2020-02-20 |title=《東奧物語六之四》楊傳廣爭議的一生 |url=https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20200220004850-260407?chdtv |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=[[China Times]] |language=zh}}</ref>

In 1963, Yang set a world indoor record in the [[pole vault]] at {{T&Fcalc|4.96}} in [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], just one day after [[David Tork]] had set the record at {{T&Fcalc|4.93}} in [[Toronto]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070517220230/http://english.rti.org.tw/Content/GetSingleNews.aspx?ContentID=30165 Today in History]. rti.org.tw (January 26, 2007)</ref>  His record only lasted a week. Later that year he finally took the [[Decathlon world record progression|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.<ref name=iaaf>{{cite web|url=http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf |title=12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook |location=Berlin |year=2009 |pages=546, 559–60, 649 |publisher=[[IAAF]] |access-date=May 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806172743/http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf |archive-date=August 6, 2009 }}</ref>

Yang placed fifth in the decathlon at the [[1964 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1964/ATH/mens-decathlon.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175524/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1964/ATH/mens-decathlon.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |title=Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's Decathlon |access-date=January 26, 2018 |work=sports-reference.com}}</ref> Yang attributed his failure to [[Ma Chen-shan]] poisoning him with a drink; Ma would defect to China after the event.<ref name="yangvjohnsontwplusdoc"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Frazier |first1=David |title=The controversial Olympic legacy of “Chinese, Taipei” |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2024/08/08/2003821926 |access-date=8 August 2024 |work=Taipei Times |date=8 August 2024}}</ref>

He appeared in a number of films, including ''[[Walk, Don't Run (film)|Walk, Don't Run]]'' (1966),<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dillman |first1=Lisa |title=C.K. Yang, 74; decathlete won Taiwan's 1st Olympic medal at 1960 Rome Games |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-30-me-yang30-story.html |access-date=January 24, 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 30, 2007}}</ref> as well as the 1970 western ''[[There Was a Crooked Man... (1970 film)|There Was a Crooked Man...]]'' as a tough inmate named Ah-Ping who did not speak.{{cn|date=January 2020}}

==Later career and death==
Yang served in the [[Legislative Yuan]] from 1983 to 1986 as a member of the [[Kuomintang]] representing what became the [[Lowland Aborigine Constituency]]. As a legislator, he backed additional funding for international sporting competitions.<ref name="yangvjohnsontwplusdoc">{{cite news |title=[ENG/中字] Decathlon: The CK Yang & Rafer Johnson Story 奧運傳奇：楊傳廣與強森 {{!}} Full Documentary |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usbdC5v3LX8 |access-date=9 August 2024 |publisher=TaiwanPlus |date=29 July 2024}}</ref> After Yang joined the [[Democratic Progressive Party]], he lost reelection.<ref name="yangvjohnsontwplusdoc"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacobs |first1=J. Bruce |author-link1=J. Bruce Jacobs |title=Democratizing Taiwan |date=2012 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004221543 |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MAU9JjMcfsQC&pg=PA162}}</ref>

After Yang's retirement from athletics, he worked as a trainer and supervisor at the National Sports Training Center in [[Zuoying District|Zuoying]], where [[Ku Chin-shui]] and [[Lee Fu-an]] were trained. After that, Yang converted to Taoism from Christianity, and served as a Taoist priest and a [[Tongji (spirit medium)|Tangki]] in a Taoist temple in his native place for 20 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.culture.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1368&Itemid=157 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216003810/http://www.culture.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1368&Itemid=157 |archive-date=February 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |title=The Life and Legend of Taiwan's first Olympic medalist "Asian Iron Man" C.K. Yang  |date=September 9, 2009 |first=Joseph |last=Yeh |website=Culture Taiwan |access-date=January 28, 2020 }}</ref>

Yang was a member of the [[Amis people|Amis]], one of the sixteen officially recognized peoples of [[Taiwanese aborigines]]. 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=C.K. Yang |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/venturacountystar/name/c-k-yang-obituary?id=13544850 |access-date=August 9, 2024 |work=Ventura County Star |date=February 1, 2007}}</ref> In 2001, while serving as president of the National Sports Training Center at [[Kaohsiung]], Yang was diagnosed with [[liver cancer]]. He died on January 27, 2007, from a massive stroke.<ref>{{cite news|agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/sports/othersports/01yang.html |title=C. K. Yang, 74, Decathlon Silver Medalist, Is Dead |work=The New York Times |date=February 1, 2007 |access-date=February 15, 2012}}</ref> He is buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in [[Ventura, California]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Yang is laid to rest |url=https://www.dailynews.com/2007/02/05/yang-is-laid-to-rest/ |access-date=9 August 2024 |work=Los Angeles Daily News |date=5 February 2007}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Men's pole vault indoor world record progression]]
*[[Decathlon world record progression]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Yang Chuan-kwang}}
* ''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.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20081031012134/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1960/OR1960v1.pdf Volume 1], Yang's entry and vital statistics in the List of Athletes, p.&nbsp;832
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080226202625/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1960/OR1960v2pt1.pdf Volume 2 Part 1], results and nine photographs of Yang during and after the decathlon competition, pp.&nbsp;160–178
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060518091625/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=YANGCHU01 Database Olympics]
* [http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/m-track/spec-rel/012807aaa.html UCLA notice about C.K. Yang's death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203165819/http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/m-track/spec-rel/012807aaa.html |date=February 3, 2007 }}
* [http://appledaily.atnext.com/template/apple/art_main.cfm?iss_id=20070129&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11866&art_id=6761535  Asian Iron Man: Yang Chuan-kuang dies of illness]{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[Apple Daily]]'', January 29, 2007 {{in lang|zh}}
* {{Olympics.com profile|chuan-kwang-yang|Chuan-Kwang Yang}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-ach|rec}}
{{Succession box|before={{flagicon|USA}} [[Rafer Johnson]]|title=[[Decathlon#Records|Men's Decathlon World Record Holder]]|years=April 28, 1963 – July 24, 1966|after={{flagicon|USA}} [[Russ Hodge]]}}
{{S-ach|aw}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Track & Field Athlete of the Year]]|before={{flagicon|NZL}} [[Peter Snell]]|after={{flagicon|NZL}} [[Peter Snell]]|years=1963}}
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{{Footer Asian Champions Decathlon Men}}
{{Footer US NC Decathlon Men}}

{{Authority control}}

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