 Sohn in 1936 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | 손기정 | |||||||||||
| Born | August 29, 1912 Shingishu, Heianhoku-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan | |||||||||||
| Died | November 15, 2002 (aged 90) Seoul, South Korea | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) | |||||||||||
| Korean name | ||||||||||||
| Hangul | 손기정 | |||||||||||
| Hanja | ||||||||||||
| Revised Romanization | Son Gijeong | |||||||||||
| McCune–Reischauer | Son Kijŏng | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
| Now coaching | Ham Kee-Yong, Suh Yun-Bok | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Olympic finals |
| |||||||||||
Medal record
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Sohn Kee-chung (Korean: 손기정; Korean pronunciation: [son.kidʑʌŋ]; August 29, 1912[1][2] – November 15, 2002) was a Korean-Japanese Olympic athlete and long-distance runner. He became the first ethnic Korean to win a medal at the Olympic Games, winning gold in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was born in the Korean Peninsula, but he competed as a member of the Japanese delegation because Korea was under Japanese rule at the time.[3] Sohn set an Olympic record of 2 hours 29 minutes 19.2 seconds.[4]
Sohn competed under the Japanese name Kitei Son, as Korea was under Japanese occupation during his career.[3][4]
- ^ Lewis, Mike (November 29, 2002). "Sohn Kee-chung: Korean athlete whose Olympic protest made him a national hero". The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
- ^ "World Marathon Rankings for 1935". Association of Road Racing Statisticians. September 20, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ a b "Son Gi-Jeong Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". April 17, 2020. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b Longman, Jeré (November 14, 2009). "Korean Olympic Hero Championed Liberty". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2021.