
Kee-Chung Sohn(Korean; 손기정, August 29, 1912 -- November 15, 2002) is 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 Kitei Son, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the hanja(Chinese Character) making up his name. Born in Siniju, North Pyongan Province, Sohn 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 November 3, 1935, which lasted about 10 years until his trainee Yun-Bok Suh won the 1947 Boston marathon with a new world record. His personal best was even better, 2:25:14 on a course 520 m longer than the standard one (equivalent to 2:23:28 for 42.195 km), and 2:24:51 on a probably 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 Sung-Yong Nam finishing third to win the bronze. At the time of the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Korea was occupied by Japan as its de facto colony. Sohn was forced to compete for the Japanese team using the adopted Japanese name of Kitei Son, the Japanese pronunciation of the hanja (Chinese Character) making up his name. As a nationalist, Sohn refused to sign his name in Japanese and signed only his <b>...</b>
1936
Berlin
Olympic
Marathon
Kee-Chung
Sohn
손기정
transforming
Art