Wee Tian Siak

Wee Tian Siak has the distinction of having been named to an Olympic basketball team for three separate countries. In 1948 he captained the Chinese team in London, and in 1956 he captained the Singapore team at Melbourne. In 1952 he was selected for the Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) team but they did not compete because of the rift with Mainland China. Wee also has the distinction of carrying a national flag at the Opening Ceremony for different nations – 1948 for China, and 1956 for Singapore. Wee first competed nationally for the Straits Settlement of Singapore in 1939. In 1948 he joined the Malayan Chinese basketball team that competed at the All-China Games in Shanghai and his performance there led to his selection for the 1948 Olympic Team. There, similar to Li Zhenzhong, as a center Wee Tian Siak was “sacrificed” to play as a guard.

In the 1950s, the owner of the “Nanyang Commercial Daily” newspaper convinced Wee and other ethnic Chinese players to compete for Singapore. His last major appearance on the basketball court came in 1959 as the coach of the Singaporean team at the first Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games.