The "flying fish" swimmer who became the PRC’s first Olympic competitor in 1952
In 1952, when Wu Chuanyu (吴传玉) hit the water of the outdoor Helsinki Swimming Stadium in the qualifying round of the 100-meter backstroke, the small crowd watching by the poolside likely did not know they were witnessing history.
A new flag was flying beside the pool that day, as the athlete nicknamed China’s “flying fish” became the first Olympic competitor to represent the new People’s Republic of China. As in 1932, when runner Liu Changchun became the first athlete to compete for the Republic of China at an Olympic Games, Wu alone represented the 600 million people of another new Chinese nation, tasked with introducing the communist state to the world.
Wu and the PRC’s participation were historic, but the road to the 1952 Games had not been smooth. Just four years earlier, at the 1948 Games in London, Wu, born to Fujianese parents in what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), had competed for the Republic of China, led by the Nationalist government that later fled to Taiwan in 1949.
Sam Davies is the managing editor at The World of Chinese. He writes mainly about Chinese society, especially life outside the biggest cities. His pieces touching on diverse topics from the future of China’s ski industry to efforts to prevent juvenile crime.
