Sohn Kee-chung
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Sohn Kee-chung (August 29, 1912 – November 15, 2002) became the first medal-winning Korean Olympian when he won the gold medal in the Marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a member of the Japanese delegation, under the name of Son Kitei, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the hanja making up his name.
Life
Born in Sinŭiju, North P'yŏngan Province, Sohn Kee-chung was educated at Yangjeong High School (양정고등학교) and Meiji University in Japan, from which he graduated in 1940.
Between 1933 and 1936, he ran 13 marathons and won 10 of them.
He set the World Best time of 2:26:42 on 3 November 1935, which lasted about 10 years until his trainee Suh Yun-Bok wins the 1947 Boston marathon with a new world record.
His personal best was even better, 2:25:14 for a course 520m longer than the standard one (adjusted to be 2:23:28 over 42.195km), and 2:24:51 for a probable short course.
He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics as a marathon runner who finished 42.195 kilometres in 2:29:19.2. He broke the olympic best and received the gold medal, with his Korean teammate Nam Sung-yong finishing third to win the bronze.
Sohn spent the remainder of his career coaching other notable runners such as:
- Suh Yun-Bok, the winner of the Boston Marathon in 1947, who broke his world record with time of 2:25:39.
- Ham Kee-Yong, winner of the Boston Marathon in 1950
- Hwang Young-Cho, who was the gold medalist of the 1992 Summer Olympics marathon, and for whom Sohn Kee-chung especially went to Barcelona to see
Afterwards he became the Chairman of the Korean Sporting Association.
At the 1988 Summer Olympics in his home country of South Korea, he was given the honor of carrying the Olympic torch into the stadium at the opening ceremony.
He authored an autobiography entitled My Motherland and Marathon (나의조국과 마라톤).
He was honoured with the Order of Civil Merit (Hangul:국민훈장) and posthumously, Grand Cordon (Blue Dragon) of the Order of Sporting Merit.
Sohn Kee-chung died at the age of 90 at midnight on November 15 2002 from pneumonia, and was buried at the Daejeon National Cemetery.
Afterwards, the Sohn Kee-jung Memorial Park was established.
Marathon and media
At the time of the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Korea was occupied by Japan as its de facto colony. Sohn Kee-chung was forced to compete for the Japanese team using the adopted Japanese name of Son Kitei, the Japanese pronunciation of the hanja making up his name. As a nationalist, Sohn Kee-chung refused to sign his name in Japanese and signed only his Korean name, and even sketched the shape of Korea beside his signatures. When interviewers asked him about his country, he would clarify that Korea is his mother country. At the medal ceremony, Sohn was overcome with emotion and shed tears to see the flag of Japan raised and the Japanese national anthem played. Japan was officially credited with Sohn's gold and Nam's bronze in its 1936 Summer Olympics medal count.
One of Korea's domestic newspapers, Dong-a Ilbo, published a photograph of Sohn at the medal ceremony, but had altered the image to remove the Japanese flag from Sohn's uniform. This act so enraged the Japanese regime that it imprisoned eight persons connected with the newspaper and suspended the publication's operations for nine months.
Sohn's Ancient Greece Bronze Helmet
In South Korea, there is a special ancient Greek bronze helmet. (BC 700? - BC 800?)(height 21.5cm)
This is the bronze helmet that was awared to Sohn Kee-Chung as a memento of the winning of the 1936 Berlin Olympics marathon. It is a helmet of early Corinth style, and it is estimated it was made in BC 7c-8c. It is said that this helmet was manufactured in Corinth of Greece, and that it was discovered at Olympia by a German archaeologist Ernst Curtius(this needs clarification) in 1875. Originally it was planned to be awarded to the marathon winner, however, it was not given to Sohn directly then and there, partly because that Sohn, who did not know about the award, left stadium not receiving it.
Afterwards by the IOC's rule that anything except the medals should not be awared, it was in the state of exposure to the public in a Berlin museum(some say it is Berlin Charlotten National Museum. This needs clarification) for years, and finally, after 50 years, by the help of a Greece newspaper(브라딘 신문사), it was returned to the hands of Sohn in 1986.
In 1987, 03, 07, it became a South Korea's national treasure, the 904th.
In 2006, replicas of this helmet were awarded to the winners of 10km, half marathon, marathon of 2006 Sohn KeeChung marathon.
See also
External links
- International Olympic Committee Athlete Profile of Sohn - contains brief biography and images.
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