On July 23, 2021, the XXXII Olympic Games, the Tokyo Olympic Games were officially unveiled in Tokyo, Japan, with a total of 204 countries and regions participating in the Olympic Games, competing for a total of 33 major events and 339 gold medals.
At the Olympic Games, there are two more special participating units, one is the Russian Olympic delegation, due to the former doping, they can not use the Russian name to participate, but with ROC as the participating organization; the other is the refugee delegation.
Refugee delegations, as the name suggests, are made up of athletes from a number of disaster-stricken countries and regions, and in 2015 the IOC said it welcomed athletes with higher individual sports levels who were disqualified because their countries were unable to participate in the Olympic Games.
The Tokyo Olympics refugee delegation consisted of 29 people from more than a dozen different countries, including Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria and others. The athletes of these refugee delegations do have a big gap in level compared to athletes from other countries and regions, but their hearts that love sports and want to speak for their own countries through this international arena are not inferior to athletes from any country.
Looking at the athletes who flew for more than ten hours, without the company of a coach, and only for ten or even a few minutes to play, it reminded me of the time when China first participated in the Olympic Games, and the two "first people" of China to participate in the Olympic Games, Liu Changchun and Wu Chuanyu. Although they did not win medals, they were real Chinese heroes!
Why do two athletes have to be described as "first person"? Read on and you'll know the answer.
Liu Changchun:
In July 1932, los Angeles, usa, the tenth Olympic Games were held here, under the initiative of Zhang Xueliang, the Chinese delegation participated in the Olympic Games for the first time. This is a patchwork Chinese team, there are only 6 people in total, the opening ceremony Chinese flag bearer is the only athlete participating in the competition, Liu Changchun, the rest is the representative of the Chinese team.
A native of Dalian, Liaoning Province, Liu Changchun graduated from the Department of Physical Education of Northeastern University and is a sprinter who broke the national records for sprinting in 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters at the 14th North China Games. At that time, in addition to Liu Changchun, there was originally an athlete named Yu Xiwei, but due to the obstruction of the Japanese side, Yu Xiwei did not successfully compete in the end.
At the moment of Liu Changchun's departure from Shanghai, more than 2,000 people came to see him off; but due to the inconvenience of transportation at the time, the Chinese delegation traveled to the United States by ship, departing on July 8, and kankan arrived in Los Angeles on July 29, the day before the Games. Nearly a month-long sea drift exhausted Liu Changchun's physical strength, and the three events of 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters that were originally reported were finally decided to participate in only 100 meters and 200 meters.
Participating in the Olympic Games for the first time, coupled with a long journey through the water and soil, Liu Changchun did not win a medal in the end, ranking fifth in the 100-meter preliminary round and fourth in the 200-meter result. This is indeed not a good result, but it is the best result that Liu Changchun can play in the case of strong physical discomfort, although he did not win a medal, he took the first step towards the Olympic Games in China, and he is a well-deserved Chinese hero!
Wu Chuanyu:
If Liu Changchun is the first person in China to participate in the Olympic Games, then Wu Chuanyu is the first person in New China to participate in the Olympic Games. In 1952, at the Helsinki Olympic Games held in Finland, the New Chinese delegation made its debut in the Olympic Games for the first time and participated in the Olympic games.
Unfortunately, due to the late time of receiving the invitation, the Chinese side only temporarily gathered a delegation of 40 participants, and when it rushed to Helsinki, the Olympic Games had already reached the end, and there were few events. In this case, only Wu Chuanyu participated in the men's 100m backstroke.
But similar to Liu Changchun, the trek greatly consumed Wu Chuanyu's physical strength, and he was eliminated in the preliminary round; nevertheless, as the person who left the first record of the New China in the Olympic Games, Wu Chuanyu's Olympic spirit is still worth remembering.
By the way, in 1953, the year after the Helsinki Olympic Games, Wu Chuanyu won the gold medal in the men's 100-meter backstroke in the swimming competition of the first International Youth Friendship Games, which was the first gold medal won by New China in a major international competition. Unfortunately, in 1954, Wu Chuanyu died of a plane crash while traveling to Hungary for further study, at the age of 26.