Talk:Oun Yao-ling

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Crisco 1492 talk 14:31, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

• ... that the weightlifter Oun Yao-ling was asked to compete in the South African Games, but the opportunity was swiftly rescinded once the organisers found out he was Chinese?

• Source: Blutstein, Harry (2021). Games of Discontent: Protests, Boycotts, and Politics at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Montreal: McGill–Queen's University Press. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0-2280-0675-6. Retrieved 2024-10-26 – via Google Books.

  This source verifies that Oun Yao-ling is also known as Günter Wu. The book notes: "To assure the white population that South Africa was held in high regard by the sporting world, it was important to have a large contingent of international competitors at the Bloemfontein Games. To this end, nearly 100 invitations went out to foreign athletes; white athletes. There were, however, some embarrassing slip-ups. Inadvertently, the organisers invited German weightlifter Günter Wu, who was Chinese, and New Zealand runner Kevin Ross, who was Maori. Both invitations were promptly withdrawn when this unforgivable mistake was discovered. In the months running up to the South Africa Games, Brutus lobbied athletes, asking them not to participate."

• ALT1: ... that the weightlifter Oun Yao-ling was asked to compete in the South African Games, but the opportunity was swiftly rescinded once the organisers found out he was Chinese, not white? Source: Same source as the first hook.
• ALT2: ... that Oun Yao-ling, who did not speak Mandarin Chinese, represented Taiwan at the 1964 Summer Olympics? Source: Ji, Cheng-jin 吉承進 (1964-10-12). "項耀林 惡補國語 拜師鐵人" [Oun Yao-ling Intensifies Mandarin Studies with the Help of a Mentor]. United Daily News (in Chinese). p. 3.

  This source verifies that he competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics. The article notes: "不會說國語的我國舉重選手項耀林，最近幾天困擾極了，因為每當隊伍集合時，他無法聽懂口令，常常有不知適從的感覺。"

  From Google Translate: "Oun Yao-ling, a Taiwanese weightlifter who cannot speak Mandarin, has been extremely troubled in recent days because whenever the team gathers, he cannot understand the commands and often feels at a loss."

• Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Rich Romer

Created by Cunard (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 87 past nominations.

Cunard (talk) 07:39, 28 October 2024 (UTC).

• Recently expanded, long enough, solidly written. Verified by source, QPQ done. The article is good. I think ALT0 is the best, but ALT1 is perhaps clearer on why it was rescinded so maybe we should go with that. ALT2 is also very interesting, but I think slightly less than the first 2.

Unrelated to DYK eligibility, but does any source say what language he spoke if it wasn't Mandarin? I am curious. PARAKANYAA (talk) 23:31, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for the review, PARAKANYAA (talk · contribs)! I didn't find any sources that directly confirmed what language he spoke. But he was born in Germany in 1940, his mother is from Germany, he studied at the German university Stuttgart Technology University of Applied Sciences, and he was living in Germany in 1963 right before the 1964 Summer Olympics. So it is high likely that his native language is German. Cunard (talk) 09:00, 31 October 2024 (UTC)