Wu Chuanyu

Wu Chuanyu

Wu Chuanyu (1928-1954), male, Chinese swimmer. He was born in saladega, Indonesia in 1928 and returned to China in 1951. In 1952, he went to Helsinki on behalf of China to participate in the swimming competition of the 15th Olympic Games. He was the first athlete of new China to appear in the Olympic Games.

In 1953, he won the gold medal of 100 meter backstroke in the first International Youth Friendship Games held in Bucharest, Romania, becoming the first new China athlete to win the championship in major international competitions. In 1954, he won the second place in 100 meter backstroke and 100 meter butterfly in the swimming competition of the 12th Universiade, and was later elected as a deputy to the first National People's Congress. On October 29 of the same year, on the way to Hungary to study, he was killed in a plane crash. He was only 26 years old.

brief account of the author's life

Wu Chuanyu was born in saladega, Indonesia, in 1928, and was originally born in wanhuan village, jiaomei Town, Longhai City, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province. He loved swimming when he was young and was determined to win glory for his motherland. When I grow up, I work in a shop. After work, I often go to the local Chinese swimming club to practice swimming.

In the autumn of 1951, Wu Chuanyu, on behalf of Indonesia, attended the third world youth and student peace and friendship festival in Berlin. In the swimming competition of the festival, he won the second place in the 100 meter backstroke with a good result of 1:12.8. When the Chinese athletes congratulated him, Wu Chuanyu was very excited and cried out with tears: "I am also Chinese, I am also Chinese!" During the festival, Wu Chuanyu expressed to the head of the Chinese delegation his wish to return to China and serve. After the festival, he went back to China with the Chinese delegation via the Soviet Union.

In 1952, as a member of the Chinese sports delegation, Wu Chuanyu participated in the swimming competition of the 15th Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland. The Chinese team went through all kinds of hardships to arrive at the scene of the Olympic Games, but it was only five days before the Helsinki Olympic Games closed, and the football and basketball matches had entered the second round stage, so the Chinese athletes had to sit on the sidelines as spectators. Although Wu Chuanyu caught up with the competition, he was eliminated in the first round of the men's 100 meter backstroke preliminary because of too much physical exertion on the way. However, as the first competition record left by the new Chinese athletes in the Olympic Games, Wu Chuanyu's 1:12.3 swimming record is still recorded in history, so Wu Chuanyu is also known as "the first person in the new Chinese Olympic Games".

On August 4, 1953, the international friendship sports competition of the fourth World Youth and students peace and friendship Festival opened in Bucharest stadium, Romania. As a member of the Chinese delegation, Wu Chuanyu participated in the swimming competition and entered the final with excellent results in the preliminary backstroke. In the men's 100 meter backstroke final at 4:00 p.m. local time on August 9, Wu Chuanyu won the gold medal with 1:8.4, becoming the first gold medal winner in an international sports competition since the founding of new China. The organizers didn't expect the Chinese to win the championship at all. As soon as the result of the competition was announced, the staff were sweating and searching for the Chinese flag and Chinese Anthem records. The delay lasted one hour, breaking the record of the longest interval between awarding and flag raising after the international sports competition. The awarding ceremony finally began, and the solemn and majestic March of the volunteers resounded through the sports world for the first time! For the first time, the bright five-star red flag is rising in the international competition!

From July to August 1954, Wu Chuanyu won the second place in the 100m backstroke and 100m Butterfly in the swimming competition of the 12th Hungarian Universiade. In September 1954, he was honored to be elected deputy to the first National People's Congress. At the beginning of Wu Chuanyu's return to China, the biggest obstacle in his life and training was that he could not speak Chinese. He studied hard and soon integrated into the big family of new China. In his life, he was also very simple. He always wore a four pocket Zhongshan suit and the cheapest shoes.

In October 1954, Wu Chuanyu was on his way to Hungary to study. Unfortunately, he was killed in a plane crash. He was only 26 years old. He long, then Vice Premier of the State Council and director of the State Sports Commission, spoke highly of Wu Chuanyu's patriotic behavior and outstanding achievements in international sports. Wu Chuanyu's death is a great loss to the sports cause of new China, and Wu Chuanyu's great contribution to the motherland is also remembered. In 1955, Premier Zhou Enlai went to Indonesia to attend the Bandung Conference, got off the plane, and said the first sentence to his entourage: "I'm going to visit Wu Chuanyu's parents and thank them for cultivating such a good son for the motherland!"

personal anecdote

He had a gift for swimming as a child

Wu Chuanyu was born in saladega, Central Java, Indonesia in 1928. My father runs a small bookstore in this small town, which is just enough to make a living. Wu's ancestral home is Fujian. In Wu Chuanyu's generation, he is the third generation of Indonesian. Even his father can't speak Chinese for a long time. Because of her poor family, Wu Chuanyu did not enter the Chinese school. She only knew Indonesian and Dutch.

However, from his grandfather to his father to Wu Chuanyu, he always firmly remembered that his motherland was in the north, and the blood of Chinese people flowed in his veins. You can see this by looking at the Chinese name of "Wu Chuanyu". "Jade" is not only a symbol of the treasure of the motherland, but also a symbol of the motherland. The Wu family must inherit it from generation to generation. At that time, countless overseas Chinese who traveled abroad and left their hometown for their livelihood had such a heart.

Wu Chuanyu's love of swimming is purely natural. It's so hot in Indonesia that there's a public swimming pool in front of Wu's house. When he was a child, he went swimming every day. The swimming pool manager liked him very much, so he gave up his ticket and quietly let him in through the back door. What really touched him to learn swimming well was an American film. The protagonist of the movie won the World Freestyle championship, and of course he showed his swimming ability in this movie. For this charming film, Wu Chuanyu sneaked into the cinema with the crowd many times, just to learn from other people's swimming postures. Soon, he showed his swimming talent and was known as "little flying fish" and enjoyed a high reputation in the local area. Later, when he was a teenager, he won the National Swimming Championship in Indonesia, and was chosen as an Indonesian national player to participate in international competitions. Because of his Chinese identity, he took part in the Seventh National Games held in Shanghai in 1948, breaking the national record of men's 100 meter freestyle with 1:3.5 and 1:3.3. In August 1948, he took part in the Olympic Games with the representative of the Republic of China in London.

The first person of new China Olympic Games

In 1951, new China was just two years old. Wu Chuanyu, on behalf of Indonesia, went to Berlin to take part in the swimming competition of the Third World Youth Festival, and made a short tour through Beijing, the capital of China. Everywhere he went, he was warmly welcomed by his Chinese compatriots, and he was very excited to see the earth shaking changes in New China. At night, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. It turns out that he is engaged in ideological struggle. Will he return to Indonesia or stay in his motherland? In the end, he made up his mind. After the Berlin match, instead of returning to Indonesia, he flew to Beijing. He felt that only in New China can there be a bright future.

At this time, it was also the initial period of sports in New China. There is only one training class under the State Sports Commission, including basketball, volleyball and track and field teams. There is only one group of four swimmers, one coach and three team members. Wu Chuanyu, Huang Hongjiu and Chen Gongcheng are all overseas Chinese from Indonesia. It can be said that the start of new China's sports swimming is entirely from the Indonesian overseas Chinese.

After Wu returned to her motherland, the biggest obstacle in her life and training was her inability to speak Chinese. He himself said: "just back to the motherland, I am like a deaf, dumb and blind, a Chinese who can't speak Chinese." The state equipped him with a translator and teacher. Like a child, he began to learn Chinese and to write Chinese characters. He studied so hard that he could write a simple letter a year later. The difficulty is the pronunciation of Chinese. Although it is stumbling, like cutting beef with a blunt knife, it can gradually communicate with people.

What surprised the members of the sports committee most was that they thought that Wu Chuanyu was a celebrity who had returned from Indonesia and that her life must be full of foreign style. Soon, they found the opposite! Wu Chuanyu is too simple to believe. What I wear is a four pocket Zhongshan suit which is popular in China. On my feet are the cheapest shoes. Once, when we went to see Premier Zhou, we found that Wu Chuanyu's only pair of leather shoes was very old, and the heel was twisted out of shape. In addition, he is the most common flat head, "a full fellow like"!

This is the lovely Wu Chuanyu. On July 18, 1952, the 15th Helsinki Olympic Games opened. The day before the opening, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games officially extended an invitation to the people's Republic of China. The hastily formed Chinese delegation arrived on the 29th. Only Wu Chuanyu took part in the men's swimming competition. This is the task assigned by Premier Zhou, "to go, to raise our five-star red flag at the Olympic Games is victory.".

In early August 1953, the Fourth International Youth Festival was held in Bucharest, Romania. In the 100m backstroke final on the afternoon of September 9, Wu Chuanyu, like a dragon, beat six foreign opponents and won the gold medal with 1 minute, 6.4 seconds. This is the first international competition in the sports history of new China

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