Liu Changchun
Liu Changchun (; listed in official Olympic records as "Liu, Cheng-Chun"; November 25, 1909 – ) was a Chinese sprinter.
Liu was the first athlete to represent China in competition at an Olympic Games. He was the sole competitor from the Republic of China at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; four years later he again represented the Republic of China at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Later in life, he was also an athletics coach, a physical education teacher, and a sports administrator.

1932 Summer Olympics

Due to the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Kuomintang of the Republic of China decided to abstain from attending the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo announced that two athletes, Liu Changchun and Yu Xi-wei would represent Manchukuo at the 1932 Summer Olympics. In May 1932, Liu announced in the newspaper Ta Kung Pao his refusal to represent Manchukuo and his wish to represent China. As the Kuomintang refused to finance his journey, General Zhang Xueliang provided 8,000 silver dollars which made it possible for him to compete in the games.

On the July 31, 1932, Liu competed in the 100m preliminaries, where he was assigned to group 2 which had 5 athletes. Liu wrote about the race in his diary: "The winner ran faster than me about 4 yards at the end, his time was 10.9 sec. I was the fourth runner-up, the time was about 11 sec. In this competition, I got ahead before 60m, however, other competitors overtook me after 80m. I cannot get a better result due to exhaustion from a month-long journey to U.S., and lack of exercise during the journey." Liu registered for the Men's 100m, 200m, and 400m; where he failed to qualify for the Finals of the Men's 100m and 200m, and he did not compete in the Men's 400m due to exhaustion.

Teaching and administrative career

Liu began his teaching career in the 1930s.  He taught as an assistant instructor, lecturer, associate professor, and professor of physical education at Northeastern University, Beijing Normal University, Northeastern Chung-Cheng University, and Dalian University of Technology.

The Liu Changchun Gymnasium at the Dalian University of Technology is named in honor of Liu.

As a sports administrator, Liu served in many capacities:
In 1964 Liu was elected as a Member of the Fourth Committee of the All-China Sports Federation, and later became a permanent committee member of the sports federation.
In 1978 Liu served as Member of the Fifth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Liu was vice chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee

Liu is the author of the books Track and Field Instructional Methodology () and Track and Field Judging Methodology ().

Legacy
Liu's life was made into the film The One Man Olympics. It was released in 2008.

See also
Republic of China at the 1932 Summer Olympics
Republic of China at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Yang Chuan-Kwang

References

1909 births
1983 deaths
Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Chinese male sprinters
Olympic athletes of China
Athletes from Dalian
Northeastern University (China) alumni
Northeastern University (China) faculty
Beijing Normal University faculty
Dalian University of Technology faculty
Educators from Liaoning
Runners from Liaoning