At the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, the athletes weren’t the only ones trying to stare down a challenge.
Michael Phelps had his goal of eight gold medals. Charles Lee, on the other hand, faced the prospect of three half-hour television interviews, in Mandarin, broadcast to millions of people.
“You always have to set yourself up for failure to succeed,” Lee told students, parents, faculty and staff at the Founders Day Celebration at the Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg on Friday, where he accepted the 2009 Distinguished Alumnus award.
VES, founded in 1916, recognizes a distinguished graduate each year at the ceremony.
Lee, a Los Angeles superior court judge who graduated from VES in 1963, led the 2008 Olympic delegation as Chef de Mission, and served as spokesman for the team in Beijing.
After discovering that he would be offered a key role, he threw himself into reviewing and preparing his Chinese. In the end, he told the audience, the hard work paid off when he was able to deflect rumors that the U.S. Olympic athletes had been refusing to stay and eat in the Olympic village.
“I was on TV in front of millions of people and it was all in Chinese — let me tell you that was frightening.” Lee said. “I think for many people I represented the face of the team.”
Lee, a Los Angeles judge who studied Chinese in Taiwan during the 1970s, was also involved with the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, serving as part of a delegation to convince the Chinese to agree in writing to participate despite Soviet calls for a boycott.
Along with Lee’s award, the VES faculty conferred the Young Bishop Award upon alumna Elizabeth Donovan for her work with autistic children and the Outstanding Service award upon Alexander Floyd for his longtime contributions and loyalty to the school.
VES is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls in grades 9-12.
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