Two recreational traditions from different parts of the world are TAIPEI. The Decathlon, the most strenuous sport event in the world, is one of the most famous events in Olympic history. Their battle at the Rome Games in 1960 is still one of the most famous events in the history of the Olympics. And even – unknown to many – the closest of friends, training together under the same manager, helping and pushing each another, casually calling themselves” the two-man United Nations”.
What a wonderful history. What a fantastic video that could be excellent.
Yet it took me and my co-creator, the writer and erstwhile Asian Wall Street Journal columnist John Krich, more than 15 times to get it made. Now, ultimately,” Decathlon: The CK Yang and Rafer Johnson Story” is done and streaming electronically.
What kept us going?
I believe that the strength of this tale of friendship and struggle along with the two main characters ‘ uniquely compelling characteristics was foremost.
Yang Chuan-kwang was Amis, one of Taiwan’s indigenous citizens. In the hills in eastern Taiwan, he was raised weak. However, he had exceptional athletic abilities, such that when he tried out for Taiwan’s staff for the 1954 Eastern Games in Manila, he outperformed all of his competitors in almost every occasion, requiring his mentors to persuade him to commit to the Decathlon. He won silver in Manila and was dubbed” the copper man of Asia” despite not knowing all the rules.
Rafer Johnson grew up poor, as also, the brother of a sharecropper in Texas. As a student, with his athletic skills, he could had played professional football or basketball, but he gave up like potentially beneficial pathways for the Decathlon. He set the earth record for the class of 1958 at UCLA, and he was also one of the first African American to be elected president of the student body. In fact, during the early days of the US civil rights movement, his athletic success elevated him to a status symbol of dark accomplishment.
In the same year, 1958, Taiwan’s state sent CK to teach at UCLA, with the goal of winning gold in Rome. Although Rafer had the same purpose, he and CK became best companions, a kind of two-man help system: CK, funny, always joking around, Rafer, earnest and serious, both committed to winning in Rome, but each big-hearted enough to support the additional along the way.
Their duel, chronicled in our documentary, remains arguably the most tense and exciting Decathlon in Olympic history. It reached its tail end during the final of the ten events. Rafer barely won gold. In addition to winning silver, CK became the first person with a Chinese surname to ever medal in an Olympic competition. They collided in each other’s arms at the conclusion of the match, an event that is immortalized in one of the greatest sports photographs ever captured.
However, neither man had a good life after Rome. Although in 1963, CK set the world record, and at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he was the overwhelming favorite to win gold, he was drugged by a teammate who then defected to China. CK failed to win a medal. And Rafer, who’d become close friends with Senator Robert Kennedy, was at RFK’s side when he was assassinated in 1968, tackling the gunman and seizing his weapon.
Both men were severely affected by the tragedies. But their friendship, which they maintained, helped each of them cope and recover. CK was at Rafer’s wedding in 1971. Rafer was at CK’s deathbed in 2007.
Such a powerful story of friendship, competition, sportsmanship, loyalty, and, indeed, love, is rarely found these days, especially in the cutthroat world of big-time sports.
Consider the political pressure that both of these men experienced: Rafer as a civil rights icon in a dangerous time for the US, and CK as a symbol of Taiwan in its ongoing conflict with Communist China. Fast-forward 64 years to the present, and the issues that affected the two men at the time, such as the Taiwan-China tensions and the fight for social justice in the United States, continue to dominate the news.
Additionally, John and I, a long-time Americans journalist, found that this story particularly resonated with them because we were both from a generation that was only slightly younger than Rafer and CK and spent much of our careers in Asia.
So, it appeared to me that the forces that permeated their lives are still in place today, making this not just another dated sports saga but also one with contemporary relevance.
However, making this into a documentary was not simple. We traveled to Taiwan and all over the US looking through the pertinent records from both private and public archives, as well as the Johnson family’s generous donation of hours of home videos.
In 2006, Yang’s final interview was recorded by John Krich, who had recorded five hours of interviews with CK. However, it was only when we learned that Rafer had also been able to add his own voice to an old CD that had been narrating the audiobook of his autobiography, which was written well over 20 years ago.
We collaborated with director Frank W. Chen of Taiwan. His most recent film, which is available on Netflix, was” Late Life: The Chien-ming Wang Story,” an account of a Taiwanese baseball player who briefly played for the New York Yankees before her cruelly short career was slacked due to injuries. Frank immediately appreciated the Rafer-CK story, but then Covid intervened, as Taiwan shut itself off from the rest of the world for more than two years, slowing our progress.
Still, we persisted, convinced that this inspiring tale was worth sharing and aiming to make that happen around the time of the 2024 Summer Olympics. As Rafer’s widow Betsy told me,” It’s important for people to remember. They ought to be aware of Rafer and CK. There are so many things in it that are applicable to life right now.
And that is probably the main factor in why John and I stayed focused on this project for so long. The tale of Rafer and , CK has sporting drama, political drama, personal triumphs and tragedies. The film’s strength comes in large part from the story of a lifelong friendship, which is, however, the most powerful.
As former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, who was one of Rafer’s closest friends, told me,” Two different cultures, two different nationalities. At the height of their sport, which is the most difficult athletic competition in the world, the two of them “loved one another.”
Mike Chinoy is the co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of” Decathlon: The CK Yang and Rafer Johnson Story”. He is a non-resident senior fellow at the University of Southern California’s US-China Institute, a former CNN foreign correspondent and the author of five books, most recently Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic.
Images supplied by the author.