Rome Olympics 1960: C.K. Yang And Rafer Johnson Opponents And Friends
by Tim Genske · ForbesThe Rome Olympics in 1960 featured a dual in the decathlon between two men representing different countries who had also become good friends: Rafer Johnson of the United States and Yang Chuan-Kwang (C. K. Yang) of Taiwan.
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas on August 18, 1934, the son of sharecroppers. When he was nine his family moved to Kingsburg, California, a small town near Fresno in the central valley of the state. They were for a while the only black family in town. In high school Rafer was a good athlete in baseball, basketball and soccer and also was elected student body president. As a sophomore a coach took him to watch Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bob Mathias in the 1952 Olympic trials. Johnson later told his coach “I could have beaten most of those guys.”
Rafer took up the decathlon thereafter and proceeded to win state championships in both his junior and senior years.
On To UCLA
Rafer entered UCLA in 1954. While there in just his fourth decathlon competition he would break the world record. He would be coached at UCLA in track by Elvin “Ducky” Drake. Johnson would also play basketball for legendary UCLA coach John Wooden on his 1958-59 team. He was again elected student body president while at UCLA.
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C. K. Yang
Yang was born July 10, 1933 in Taitung County, Japanese Taiwan. He was one of Taiwan’s indigenous people growing up poor in the mountains of eastern Taiwan. But he had remarkable athletic skills–so much so that when he tried out for the Taiwan national team in 1954 he beat everyone in almost every event, prompting his coaches to insist he do the decathlon. He would win gold in the event in the Asian Games and was dubbed “The Iron Man of Asia.” Competing for Taiwan in the 1956 Olympics Yang would finish eighth. He would again win gold in the Asian Games in 1958.
On To UCLA
Yang would be sent by the Taiwanese government in 1958 to UCLA to train for the gold in Rome in 1960, where he would meet track coach Drake and Johnson. Although Rafer Johnson had the same goal, he and CK would become best friends and a two-man support system. C.K. was the light-hearted one while Rafer tended to be more serious. Although both men wanted to win they chose to help one another along the way under Drake pushing each other and jokingly calling themselves “the two-man United Nations.”
Rome 1960
The Rome Games would feature 5300 athletes from 83 countries competing in 150 events. Abebe Bikila would become the first black african to win the marathon. WIlma Rudolph would win three gold medals in track for Team USA. And two classmates from UCLA, Johnson and Yang, would battle for gold in the decathlon.
It would come down to the last event–the 1500 meter run. Going into the event Yang was the likely winner. Rafer was leading at that point with C.K. in second place, but only by 67 points. Yang needed only to win by a margin of 10 seconds or more to overtake Johnson. Yang’s best time going into the event was 4:36. Johnson’s was 4:54. Game Over. Not.
Legend has it that Johnson went to Drake for guidance. Drake told him to stick close to Yang and be ready for a ‘hellish sprint’ for the finish line. Ironically Yang would also seek Drake’s counsel who told him to put as much distance between himself and Johnson, before kicking on the final lap.
In the end Johnson would be the one with something left at the end to execute his coaches instructions. He ran his personal best of 4:49. Yang would beat him, but only by 1.2 seconds. Johnson would claim gold by a winning margin of 58 points with a total score of 8392 points, a new world record.
At this finish line the two friends collapsed into each other’s arms, a moment which was fortunately captured on film.
Two men from two countries with two very different stories brought together by a common goal. They would help each other even as they fought to beat each other. In the end only one of them could win. I am certain it did not matter in the end if it were Johnson or Yang who had won gold that day–-their friendship would remain the same.