Jin Guidi

Jin Guidi from Lingshou county in Hebei province joined the army at the age of 17. First, he was first a martial arts instructor and then promoted to an officer. Also during this time, he married and became a father. Jin Guidi and the other three Chinese boxers selected for participation at the 1936 Berlin Olympics were all soldiers in the army of General Shang Zhen, the sport enthusiastic commander-in-chief of the 32nd army corps and ruler of the Henan province. Early in 1936, they went to Shanghai to participate in the trials at the Shanghai Western Overseas Chinese Youth Association Gymnasium. Subsequently the Sports Association hired Australian coach Billy Tingle, who lived in China, to prepare them during a training camp in Shanghai. Jin’s bout at the Olympics against Briton Richard Shrimpton ended in a controversial decisive win of the European. The referee counted out Jin but one of the judges protested that Shrimpton had thrown a punch too soon after coming out of a clinch and he was disqualified. British officials objected and the decision was overruled.

After returning from Europe, all four Chinese boxers fought in the Sino-Japanese war and died in action. During the defense of Anyang in Henan province in late 1937, the Chinese army suffered particularly from the superior technology of the Japanese tanks. Jin Guidi is reported to have wrapped a dozen grenades around him. He shouted to his comrades to give him cover, ran towards the Japanese tank alone and blew himself up to destroy the tank. The fate of the four boxers was fictionalized in the 2018 movie “Chivalrous fists of steel” by director Gao Liqiang.