Ku Chin-shui (, 15 January 1960 – 25 May 2016) was an Amis Taiwanese decathlete and pole vaulter. He medaled for Chinese Taipei at the Asian Athletics Championships six times, winning one gold medal, two silver medals, and three bronze medals. At the 1990 Asian Games, he earned a silver medal in the decathlon. Upon retiring from athletics, he became a physical education teacher. Alt URL
Post-athletic life On 24 August 1999, an explosion on board a landed Uni Air plane, Flight 873, injured 28 people and killed Ku Jing-chi (C: 古金池, P: Gǔ Jīnchí), the older brother of Ku Chin-shui.
A report from the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) stated that the cause of the fire was the interaction of two luggage items that happened to be in overhead compartments. Firstly, gasoline had leaked from a plastic bottle and, secondly, a motorcycle battery had been jostled, causing an electric arc that ignited fumes from the gasoline.
Prosecutors accused Ku Chin-shui of asking his nephew to take gasoline on the flight. Ku was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison. Upon appeal, the sentence was shortened to seven and a half years. After a fifth retrial, he was declared not guilty. The ASC had commissioned an analysis from the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, which said the ASC's simulation environment differed from that of the aircraft which had exploded."
The court case caused Ku to lose his teaching position, and he worked part-time at a steel factory until 2008, when he returned to teaching full-time.
Ku was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and died of plasma cell leukemia on 25 May 2016 at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei. Aged 56 at the time of his death, Ku was survived by his wife and two children.
International competitions 1983Asian ChampionshipsKuwait City, Kuwait2ndPole vault4.80 m2ndDecathlon7438 pts1984Olympic GamesLos Angeles, United States16thDecathlon7629 pts1985Asian ChampionshipsJakarta, Indonesia1stDecathlon7538 pts1987Asian ChampionshipsSingapore3rdPole vault5.10 m1989Asian ChampionshipsNew Delhi, India3rdPole vault5.20 m1990Asian GamesBeijing, China2ndDecathlon7623 pts1991Asian ChampionshipsKuala Lumpur, Malaysia3rdPole vault5.10 m This performance was calculated using the 1977 IAAF scoring tables and in the modern 1985 IAAF tables, is worth 7614 pointsAthletics at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Decathlon. Sports Reference. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
See also List of Asian Games medalists in athletics Uni Air Flight 873, the related aircraft accident
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