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Wu Chuanyu (21 August 1928 - 29 October 1954) was an Indonesian-Chinese swimmer who participated in the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games. On the second occasion he was the first Olympic athlete in the People's Republic of China.

Biography

First years
He was born in Salatiga, Central Java, in the East Antilles (now Indonesia) in 1928, the son of immigrants from Fujian, a coastal province in south-east China. He swam from very small, playing on the shore of the Surakarta River. In 1941, at the age of 13, he participated in a swimming competition, setting a new Indonesian record for butterfly style at 200 meters and defeating the Dutch champion.

London 1948
He was one of 26 competitors - and the only swimmer - who represented the Republic of China at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London (United Kingdom). He participated in the 100-meter male free-style event, finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 1: 03.5.

In 1951, at the age of 23, he represented Indonesia at the Third World Youth and Student Festival in East Berlin (German Democratic Republic), winning a silver medal at a 100-meter-back-style event, with a time of 1: 12.8.

Helsinki 1952
At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, he was part of the delegation of 40 athletes from the People's Republic of China, who were members of the Chinese Olympic Committee. The government decided to send the Olympic team only one day before the opening ceremony, and the basketball and football teams came too late to compete, making Wu the only representative of China at those Games. He swam in the heats of the 100 meters male back style on July 30, and finished fifth in his heat with a time of 1: 12.3.

In August 1953, he competed at the Fourth World Youth and Student Festival in Bucharest, Romania. He won the event 100 meters back style with a time of 1: 06.4. This medal ceremony was the first time that the flag of the People's Republic of China was raised at an international sports event.

Subsequent years and death
He then returned to China, where he attended the first National People's Assembly.

After the conclusion of the Assembly, Wu died in an air accident at midnight on 28 October 1954 in the Krai of Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union (now Russia), at the age of 26 while travelling to Budapest to resume his training. The flight was from Beijing to Moscow on multiple scales. Before the accident, the flight (number 136) was headed from Irkutsk airport to Krasnoyarsk- Yemelyanovo airport. The plane fell on Mount Sivukha. There were nine foreign passengers on board (the other eight were four Poles and four Cypriots). Several years after his death, China's leader, Mao Zedong, highlighted his skills.

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