The Strange Record of C.K. Yang in the Decathlon (0)

The Strange Record of C. K. Yang in the Decathlon

by Yoram Aharoni - yoramaharoni@gmail.com

At the Mount San Antonio Relays (Mt. SAC Relays), held on April 27-28, 1963, in Walnut, California, the athlete from Formosa (Taiwan), Yang Chuan-kwang, set a decathlon world record of 9,121 points (according to the 1952 scoring tables that were in effect at the time). There were several unusual aspects to this record in the history of the decathlon.

Yang, the silver medalist from the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, was known in the United States as C. K. Yang. He was born in 1933 and died in 2007. His inspiration to take up the decathlon came from the Olympic decathlon champion of 1948 and 1952, Bob Mathias of the USA, who visited Taiwan and left Yang a javelin as a gift. Yang’s first decathlon competition was at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, where he won with 5,547 points (5,978 points according to the current tables). His performances in that competition were: 100 m - 11.5; long jump - 6.40; shot put - 10.56; high jump - 1.87; 400 m - 52.2 / 110 m hurdles - 15.6; discus - 33.10; pole vault - 3.21; javelin - 48.46; 1500 m - 5:23.3.

Yang’s next decathlon competition was at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, where he finished eighth with 6,521 points (6,997 in current tables). In Melbourne he met for the first time the American athlete Rafer Johnson (1934-2020) and his coach “Ducky” Drake (1903-1988), who was the track and field coach at UCLA. In 1958, at age 25, Yang came to the United States and began training with Johnson under Drake at UCLA. He defended his Asian Games title in Tokyo in late May 1958 with 7,101 points (7,094), and at the U.S. Championships in early July that year he finished second with 7,625 points (7,407) behind Johnson, who scored 7,754 (7,432). At the end of July, Johnson regained the world record when he won the USA vs. USSR meet in Moscow with 8,302 points (7,789), ahead of the Soviet Vasily Kuznetsov, who in May of that year had broken Johnson’s 1955 record with 8,014 points, the first performance over 8,000 under the 1952 tables.

In 1959 Johnson did not compete in the decathlon and lost his record to Kuznetsov, who scored 8,357 points (7,839) in Moscow. Kuznetsov (1931-2001) was European decathlon champion three times (1954, 1958, 1962). At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics he finished third behind Johnson, who had a knee injury and was not at his best. The title was won by Milt Campbell of the USA (1933-2012), in the fifth and final decathlon of his career, at age 23, with 7,937 points (7,614), while setting no fewer than 7 personal bests. Campbell, the first African-American to win Olympic gold in the decathlon, was a versatile athlete who also excelled in swimming-something rare for African-Americans, especially at that time. He was also an excellent hurdler and set a world record in the 120-yard hurdles (109.73 m) with 13.4 seconds in 1957. He lost his amateur status after beginning to play professional football but was released from his team after one year because he married a white woman. Before the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 38, Campbell wanted to represent the USA in judo but was not allowed to do so because of his past as a professional football player.

At the 1960 U.S. Championships, which also served as the Olympic Trials for Rome, Yang achieved a score better than Kuznetsov’s world record when he finished second with 8,426 points (7,778), behind Johnson who set his third and final world record - 8,683 points (7,981). At that time, the rule that the leading athletes in a combined event must run in the same heat of the final event did not yet exist, and Johnson ran the 1500 m in an earlier heat than Yang.

C. K. Yang

Rome 1960 Olympic Games

At the Rome Olympics, Yang led after the first two events with 1,984 points after running 10.7 in the 100 m and jumping 7.46 in the long jump. Johnson was second with 1,854 (10.9, 7.35), and Kuznetsov was fifth with 1,643 (11.1, 6.96). As expected, Johnson took the lead after the shot put with 15.82 m and a total of 2,830 points, ahead of Yang (2,687), who threw 13.33 m. Kuznetsov moved up to fourth with 2,460 points thanks to 14.46 m. Johnson maintained the lead at the end of the first day with 4,647 points after a high jump of 1.85 and 48.3 in the 400 m. Yang was second with 4,592 after 1.90 and 48.1. Rain during the high jump made conditions difficult and the first day lasted about 10 hours, ending in darkness. Kuznetsov was fifth with 3,999 (1.75, 50.2).

At the start of the second day, Yang regained the lead after running 14.6 in the 110 m hurdles, bringing him to 5,515 points, ahead of Johnson 5,387 (15.3) and Kuznetsov 4,812 (15.0). After the discus, Johnson regained the lead with 6,281 points after throwing 48.49 m, ahead of Yang 6,137 (39.83) and Kuznetsov 5,784 (50.52). In Rome, metal poles were still used in the pole vault. Yang cleared 4.30 m, Johnson 4.10, and Kuznetsov 3.90, and after eight events the standings were: Johnson 7,076, Yang 7,052, Kuznetsov 6,479. Kuznetsov, not in the same form as in 1959, was nevertheless the best of the three in the javelin with 71.20 m, ahead of Johnson 69.76 and Yang 68.22, and the points before the final event were: Johnson 8,056, Yang 7,989, Kuznetsov 7,503.

Johnson’s best decathlon 1500 m before that was 4:54.2 (303 points), set in Melbourne 1956. Yang’s best decathlon 1500 m was 4:51.0 (327 points). The 67-point gap meant that Yang needed to beat Johnson by about 10 seconds in the 1500 m to win gold. Yang had a non-decathlon best of 4:36.9, so closing the gap seemed possible. The race scenario was clear: Yang would try to run away, and Johnson would try to stay close. Johnson succeeded, and the results were: Yang 4:48.5, Johnson 4:49.7. Final scores: Johnson 8,392 (7,901), Yang 8,334 (7,820). Kuznetsov ran 4:53.8 and finished third with 7,809 (7,527).

In 1961, the American Phil Mulkey (1933-2022) scored 8,709 points (8,050), better than Johnson’s world record, with the following performances: 10.7 - 7.34 - 15.32 - 1.99 - 51.0 / 14.6 - 47.03 - 4.39 - 67.45 - 4:43.8. This performance was not ratified because Mulkey used pacemakers in the races. The small meet in Memphis where the result was achieved had only 2 other competitors and about 40 spectators. It was reported that Mulkey was so exhausted after the 1500 m that he could not walk for 30 minutes.

Some of Yang’s competitors in the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. Second from the left is Rafer Johnson, third from the left is Phil Mulkey, and fourth from the left is Vasily Kuznetsov.

Comparison of the performances and scores between the records of Johnson and Yang

After the Rome Olympics, a major change occurred in pole vaulting with the introduction of the fiberglass pole. Yang adapted very well to the new pole, which brings us back to the Mt. SAC Relays in 1963.

Table 1 presents Johnson’s performances and the points awarded for them when he set his final world record at the 1960 U.S. Championships, compared with Yang’s performances and the points awarded for them when he set his world record at the Mt. SAC Relays in 1963.

Three interesting things occurred there:

a) An improvement of 438 points over the previous record (or actually 523), the largest improvement in history under any scoring table, and the first performance over 9,000 points under any table.

b) After nine events, Yang’s total was already higher than the previous world record. This was not the first time this had happened: when Johnson broke Kuznetsov’s record in 1960, his total after nine events also exceeded the previous world record.

c) (Which also explains the previous two points): In the pole vault, Yang cleared 4.84 m. The highest performance listed in the table was 4.82 m, and therefore Yang received the maximum number of points in the table, 1,515 points. The rules did not specify what to do in such a case. The points in parentheses are an estimate of the score he should have received for 4.84 m if the table creators had assigned points for that height.

The 1952 scoring tables were very progressive: the better the performance, the more points were awarded for each additional improvement in centimeters or seconds. For example, in the 100 m, 12.0 seconds was worth 597 points and 11.9 seconds 623 points (26 points per 0.1 sec). But 11.0 seconds was worth 908 points and 10.9 seconds 948 points (40 points per 0.1 sec). In the long jump, 7.00 m was worth 785 points and 7.10 m 818 (33 points per 10 cm), while 7.40 m was worth 926 and 7.50 m 966 (40 points per 10 cm). In the pole vault, the difference between a performance of 4.12 m and a performance of 4.22 m was 60 points (867-807 = 60). In contrast, the difference between 4.72 m and 4.82 m was 222 points (1515-1293 = 222).

The 1952 tables were not prepared for the major improvement in pole vaulting caused by fiberglass poles. Because the IAAF was aware of the problem, new scoring tables (known as the 1962 tables, although they came into effect only in 1964) were prepared. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, the results were already scored according to the 1962 tables. The 1962 tables were slightly progressive in the running events and slightly regressive in the field events; that is, for the same improvement in performance, slightly fewer points were awarded.

Achieving a near-maximal score in the women’s pentathlon

In women’s pentathlon competitions, the 800 meters replaced the 200 meters as the final event of the pentathlon in 1977. The first two world records in this version of the pentathlon were set by the West German athlete Eva Wilms (born 1952). Her second record was 4,823 points, set on June 18, 1977. In Table 2 are presented her performances and the scores awarded to them according to the women’s scoring table that was in use at the time, known as the “1971 Table”.

table 2: Performances and scores according to the 1971 table for the world record in the pentathlon set by Eva Wilms on June 18, 1977.

The highest performance listed in the table for the shot put was 21.00 meters, which was worth 1,200 points. If Eva Wilms had put the shot 6 cm farther, she would have “gone off the table.” She certainly could have done that—her personal best was 21.43 m, set on June 17, 1977.

There was a lack of correspondence between the maximum performances in the table and the world records. The maximum performance in the table for the 100 m hurdles was 11.80 seconds, which is still better than the world record even today. In the shot put, the world record in 1977 was already 22.32 m. In the high jump, the highest performance in the table was 1.98 m, while the world record in 1977 was already 2.00 m. In the long jump, the maximum performance in that table was 7.40 m, a barrier that was only surpassed by a woman in 1983 (the world record in 1977 was 6.99 m). In the 800 meters, the maximum performance in that table was 1:53.6. In 1983 a better performance was achieved - 1:53.28, and in 1977 the world record stood at 1:54.9.

The scoring of Yang’s performances in the different tables

The 1962 tables for men were used to score decathlon performances until the end of 1984. In 1985, new scoring tables came into effect, and these are still used to score decathlon performances today. The basis for constructing the 1985 tables was the collection of performances from decathlon competitions only.

Until the introduction of the 1985 tables, the decathlon scoring tables also included scoring values for events that were not part of the decathlon, and they were used, for example, to score certain team competitions. From 1985 onward, the IAAF emphasized that decathlon scoring tables should not be used for comparing performances across different events or for scoring team competitions, and other scoring tables were prepared for those purposes, the scoring tables known as the "World Athletics Scoring Tables of Athletics".

Table 3 shows the points awarded for Yang’s performances according to the 1952, 1962, and 1985 scoring tables.

In Table 3, Yang’s 1963 performances would have been worth:

• 9,121 points (9,206 estimated) under the 1952 tables
• 8,089 points under the 1962 tables
• 8,010 points under the 1985 tables

The Scoring of the highest performances in the tables and the world records in the years the tables were prepared

Table 4 shows the highest results for which scores appear in all three tables. In parentheses are the world records in each event at the beginning of the years 1950, 1964, and 1985.

Table 4: The highest results awarded points in the 1952, 1962, and 1985 tables for men.

At the 1988 Seoul Games, Tim Bright of the USA (born in 1960) cleared 5.70 meters in the pole vault as part of the decathlon competition. Had the 1962 scoring table still been in effect, he would have received points corresponding to a performance of 5.65, which would have been at least 11 points lower than the score he actually deserved. It also appears that the editors of the 1985 table did not foresee what Sergey Bubka would accomplish in the pole vault within just a few years, since the highest performance printed in the table was 5.99 meters.

In the 1985 athletics regulations, there was still no reference to formulas for calculating decathlon points or to the situation in which an athlete achieves a performance better than the highest performance listed in the scoring table. Theoretically, a situation could therefore have arisen again in which an athlete, within the decathlon, achieved a pole vault performance higher than the performance that entitled him to the maximum score. The highest pole vault performance currently printed in the decathlon scoring tables is 6.49 meters. Later editions of the 1985 tables included formulas for calculating points, so that if an athlete scored better than the highest performance printed in the table, the score could be calculated easily.

The scoring of performances in the 1500 meters

One can see from the comparison that Yang would have received many more points for the 1500 m under the 1962 and especially the 1985 tables. Does this mean those tables encourage decathletes to train more for the 1500 m? Not at all. What matters in the decathlon is not the number of points scored in an event but the point difference relative to the other competitors .If we compare Young’s performance in the 1500 m in the record he set in 1963 (5:02.4) with Johnson’s performance in the decathlon record he set in 1960 (5:09.9), we see that according to the 1952 table the difference between the performances is 45 points (245-200), according to the 1962 table the difference is 44 points (395-351), and according to the 1985 table the difference is 42 points (546-504). If Johnson and Young had run the 1500 m 30 seconds faster (4:39.9 and 4:32.4), the points difference between them would have been 68 points according to the 1952 table (482-414), 45 points according to the 1962 table (573-528), and 45 points according to the 1985 table (729-684).

The 1985 scoring tables for the men’s decathlon and the women’s heptathlon have been in use longer than any previous combined events scoring system. They have several additional advantages over the 1962 tables, besides the possibility of scoring performances better than the highest performances printed in the tables: they were the first to reflect the difference between performances measured by automatic timing and those measured manually, and they are also slightly progressive both in the running events and in the field events. In the case of the 1500 meters, however, they are probably not progressive enough for competitors to find it worthwhile to make a special effort in this event.

Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games

Yang finished his athletics career at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fifth while injured with 7,650 points under the 1962 tables (7,539 under the 1985 tables).

In the Tokyo competition, West German athletes took three of the first six places: Willi Holdorf (1940-2020) was the winner with 7,887 points (7,726 in the 1985 table), Hans-Joachim Walde (1942-2013) was third with 7,809 points (7,666), and Horst Beyer (1940-2017) was sixth with 7,647 points (7,488). West German athletes were coached by Friedel Schirmer (1926-2014), who had finished eighth in the decathlon in Helsinki 1952 and is considered the father of modern decathlon coaching theory in West Germany, which viewed the decathlon as a discipline in its own right, in which there was little room for specialists who focused on a small number of events and did not reach a high level (relative to decathlon standards) in all events. The next Olympic champion, Bill Toomey of the USA (born 1939), also went to train with Schirmer in West Germany.

Second place in Tokyo 1964 was taken by the Estonian athlete representing the USSR, Rein Aun (1940-1995), who scored 7,842 points (7,677). This was already the second medal by an Estonian decathlete, after the bronze medal of Aleksander Klumberg-Kolmpere (1899-1958) in 1924, and it was another link in the magnificent Estonian combined events tradition, whose notable successors include the Olympic champion in Sydney 2000, Erki Nool (born 1970), and the silver medalist at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Maicel Uibo (born 1992). Fourth place in Tokyo 1964 was taken by the USA representative Paul Herman (born 1941) with 7,787 points (7,651). Vasily Kuznetsov finished seventh with 7,569 (7,454), while ninth place went to Russ Hodge of the USA (born 1939) with 7,325 points (7,130).

Breaking Yang’s record

At the US Championships in 1966, held in Salina, Kansas, Bill Toomey achieved a better score than Yang’s record when he scored 8,234 points (8,096). Russ Hodge was second with 8,130 points. Toomey’s performance was not ratified as a record due to problems with wind measurements in the hurdles and the long jump. Three weeks later, it was Hodge who officially broke Yang’s record when he scored 8,230 points (8,120) at the Los Angeles Times International Games at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles: 10.5 - 7.51 - 17.25 - 1.85 - 48.9 / 15.2 - 50.44 - 4.10 - 64.49 - 4:40.4. Bill Toomey was second, also with a performance better than Yang’s record - 8,219 (8,082): 10.5 - 7.44 - 13.51 - 1.90 - 46.8 / 14.7 - 44.52 - 4.10 - 64.19 - 4:20.3.

Yang remains to this day the only decathlete to have set a world record while representing a country that is neither the United States nor a European country. He was 1.84 m tall, shorter than Johnson, who was 1.90 m.

Yang’s personal bests: