{"id":13761,"date":"2012-08-02T03:08:41","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T03:08:41","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-08-02T03:08:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T03:08:41","slug":"First-Asian-American-Olympian-to-Win-Gold-Turns-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=13761","title":{"rendered":"First Asian American Olympian to Win Gold Turns 92"},"content":{"rendered":"

California native and Olympic diver Sammy Lee had to train in a sand pit because Asian Americans \u2013 and other minority groups \u2013 could not use the public pool some six decades ago.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t stop him from winning the gold in the 1948 London Olympics.<\/p>\n

“In my day, they said you had to be white to win the gold, because the white man has a \u2018better looking body,'” said Lee, who turned 92 Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Photos from Lee\u2019s legendary career as the first Asian-American to win Olympic gold<\/strong> cast him in stark contrast to his much larger teammates.<\/p>\n

Lee — a retired doctor who lives in Southern California — says at his peak, he was 5-feet-2-inches tall.<\/strong> Now, he stands less than 5 feet tall.<\/p>\n

Lee says he fooled them all because he was “short and squatty.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Source NBC<\/a>
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