Athletes march together as one team at the closing ceremony of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Photos courtesy of John Ian Wing

John Ian Wing didn't expect he would get a medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games since he hadn't taken part in any athletic event.

The 17-year-old was awarded for his small yet significant action reminding the people of the Olympic spirit. He had sent a letter to the Olympic committee suggesting that the Games closing ceremony should be conducted with a "one world one nation" theme. The letter made Wing famous and put his name in Australian history textbooks. A street was named after him in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Village.

Wing is a third-generation Chinese living in Australia. His grandfather migrated to the country in the late 19th century and started a laundromat and a restaurant.

As a child, Wing used to spend most of his spare time listening to the radio and looking at people dining at or passing by his grandfather's restaurant until midnight.

Wing was named 'one of the heroes in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games' by Australian media during the 2000 Sydney Games.

But Wing has an innate love for sports, and he has great admiration for the Olympic heroes who have won medals. He had learned karate and would run six nights a week, each night for four hours. He dreamed that he would one day be as famous as Jessie Owens, an African-American track-and-field gold medalist in the 1936 Berlin Games.

On November 22, 1956,as the Melbourne Olympic Games began, Wing was highly excited. Even though he couldn't afford the ticket to watch the events, he would wait outside the stadium to take a look at the athletes.

Although he was brimming with excitement, Wing felt that the joyous occasion was hijacked by political tensions.

"The Games itself was well organized. But there was something wrong with the atmosphere," he said. "The Melbourne people were very upset with what was happening."

Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon had pulled out of the Games following the Suez Crisis in October 1956 and a military attack on Egypt by Britain, France and Israel. Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland also withdrew after the Hungarian Uprising.

Even though the number of participating countries was only two less than the 1952 Games, the number of athletes dropped sharply from 4,925 to 3,342.

Some countries had ordered their athletes not to mix with other athletes in the Olympic Village. And there was a fracas during a water polo match between Russian and Hungarian players. "The athletes were used as pawns by the politicians," he said. "Thinking that one day I will become an Olympian, I don't want politicians to interfere with the Games. So someone has to do something."

Believing that "the pen is mightier than the sword", Wing decided to write an anonymous letter to the Australian Olympic committee president Kent Hughes three days before the Games ended, urging him that all athletes should get together in the closing ceremony, which was not attended by athletes traditionally. He believed his suggestion would make the whole world united as one single nation.

"War, politics and nationality will all be forgotten," the letter said. "No team is to keep together and there should be no more than two teammates together, they must be spread out evenly and they must not march, but walk freely and wave to the public."

A street was named after Wing in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Village. (Inset) The John Ian Wing Parade leads to the Olympic Stadium.

Wing did not expect that his letter would be taken seriously and his suggestion accepted. He decided to go to see his favorite cowboy movie at a cinema, instead of watching the closing ceremony at home.

It was two days after the ceremony that Wing came to know through newspaper reports that his idea had been accepted.

The media hounded him for an interview. But Wing was publicity-shy, and he sent a letter to Hughes asking him not to reveal his identity. Wing was given a medal in recognition of his grand idea.

He, however, decided not to tell his parents and friends what he had achieved.

"I just thought that they won't believe in me," he said. "Being Chinese, my family might have got upset because I had written a letter to the authorities without their permission."

Wing remained in obscurity. In 1969 he settled in the United Kingdom, where he took a part-time job in Playboy Club.

It was until 1986 that Wing came to be known all over the world. In that year, an Australian student Shane Cahill, working on a thesis related to the Olympic Games, came across Wing's second letter to Hughes. Cahill, now an Olympic writer and commentator, informed a sports journalist Harry Gordon, who wrote an article "Where are you, John Ian Wing?" for the Time magazine published on September 22. A disc jockey in a Melbourne radio station tracked down Wing in London one day later.

"I received a call from the disc jockey at midnight. He asked me whether I am John Ian Wing," he said.

The 69-year-old still keeps a close watch on the Olympic Games and believes in one world, one dream. He recently wrote to Olympic academics expressing deep concern over the politicization of the Games in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

The recent protests during the Olympic torch relay and the calling of boycott of the Games deeply saddened him.

"What is happening now is the same thing that happened 52 years ago," Wing said. "Athletes do not want to be part of the boycott."

The hand-written letter by Wing.

He said athletes will be put in danger if sports or the Olympics are mixed with politics.

While Wing dismissed fears of disruption during the Beijing Olympics, he said undesirable episodes will happen in the next two decades if the Olympics is used as a platform for political purpose, he said.

"For example, the host country may be asked to get rid of terrorist groups. This can cause trouble at the Games. Terrorist groups don't recognize the Olympic spirit. They may use violence in the host country during the Games," he said.

Wing added that athletes must be respected.

"Athletes are not interested in politics. They just want to do sports and win the Games," he said.

(HK Edition 04/30/2008 page3)