Kee-Chung Sohn, the Marathon Winner of 1936 Berlin Olympics

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 Korean name, and even sketched the shape of Korea beside his signatures. When interviewers asked him about his country, he would clarify that Korea was 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.

Three days later after the Marathon race, 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 spent the remainder of his career coaching other notable runners such as:

#Yun-Bok Suh, the winner of the Boston Marathon in 1947, who broke his world record with a time of 2:25:39.

#Kee-Yong Hahm, winner of the Boston Marathon in 1950

#Young-Cho Hwang, who was the gold medalist of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathon.

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 (Korean:국민훈장) and posthumously, Grand Cordon (Blue Dragon) of the Order of Sporting Merit.

Sohn died at the age of 90 at midnight on November 15, 2002 from pneumonia, and was buried at the Daejeon National Cemetery. Afterwards, the Ki-Jung Sohn Memorial Park was established.

This Clip was from the 1938 (Nazi Propaganda) Documentary film of Leni Riefenstahl, 'Olympia'. In 1956, Riefenstahl re-edited the footage of Sohn, and sent it to Sohn as a souvenir. Sorry for the low quality as I filmed this with my Digital Camera at his memorial Exhibition in 2002.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• 1936
• Berlin
• Olympic
• Marathon
• Kee-Chung
• Sohn
• 손기정

[runallday400j50]

i would've ripped the japanese flag right off my clothes

[nypchung]

Bitter sweet moment for Korea. What was really incredible was when Kee Chung Son carried the Olympic torch into Seoul Stadium in the opening ceremeny in 1988. Two words: KOREAN PRIDE. You can take our lives. But you'll never take our freeeedddddom!

BTW, Ichiro Susuki is a prick.

[kenta54023]

This toki1221 is living in his own little world thinking purely about facts and figures. I feel sorry for this person. Don't even want to waste my time arguing with this silly Jap.

[yuriyuri92]

But I do know how to distinguish between a fantasy and a fact. Wake up from your little dream and see the world for yourself. That is the problem of some groups of Japs. They will never understand the peace and harmony of the world. And I bet you do too my friend. Unlike you, I do not say all Japs cannot understand. I say a few. Because I know the fact that No one is exactly like the other. But you do not. I believe, this proves that you are ignorant and yeah, livin' in your own fantasy.

[yuriyuri92]

And look around my friend. Look at the facts. Don't try to make up your own fantasy. Japanese people still do not know the impact of a war. What it can do to other countries. That is why they never ever say a single world call sorry to surrounding nations. Many Japanese are good. But some of them are complete nut jobs as it is in all the countries in the world. But in Jap's case, the scale is enlarged due to World War Two. You should study world history my friend. I'm only 19.

[yuriyuri92]

@toki1221 They are just being silly, being Japanese again. And YOU say Japanese are not silly. How interesting. is it? My friend, most of the times, the best insult is making someone to realise their wrong doing. Because then the person will realise his mistake and will try to hide everything. I told you. If you are not scared of me, then send me an email to yuriyuri92(at)msn.com. So I can show you what Japs did during the World War 2. Hope you are atleast not proud of Japan's part in WW2

[yuriyuri92]

@toki1221 Whatever you try to tell me, I actually do understand in some ways. But I cannot understand you selfishness and stupidity. Japanese are not silly? To hell with it, you serious my friend? That is why they dump million tons of toxic waste from the Nuke power plants? No. Actually that is stupidity. I live in New Zealand. And Nearly everyone who knows what YOU people did to our beautiful planet, most kiwis I met says,

[yuriyuri92]

@toki1221 Yeah Ignorance is the biggest insult on the planet. That is what Japanese all think about. You guys do not know there are other major insults other than ignorance. But how kind of you to not givin' me any insults providing you know it can be the biggest insults. That tells me, how childish you people are. No. Don't put me down to YOUR level. As I told you, I try my best to think straight. But I do not think you are. I've seen many Japanese, good and bad. You are just one of many.

[toki1221]

@yuriyuri92 However, these character loses everything overall and history tells it. Korean will never understand what I mean. OK, keep fighting by yourself and you can keep your misery history forever. At least Japanese are not such silly. I won't get your childish provocations. Please don't let me down your same level. I know how meaningless it is. That's why I ignore you and keep in mind last:

IGNORANCE IS THE BIGGEST INSULT ON THE PLANET.

[toki1221]

@yuriyuri92 I've debated with Korean for a long time and reached a conclusion that it just wastes a time. Korean have very low inferiority complex between big powers Japan and China making them so mad about everything. Especially Korean are historically influenced by Confucianism so much which tells who is superior or who is inferior. That's why Korean are so competitive even for a cheap pride. Korean hope to win everything in order to calm down your inferiority complex.

[toki1221]

@yuriyuri92 I've ever read the article that Korean planned to change Sohn's nationality on a plate of the Olympic stadium in Berlin, Germany. And I just warn Korean on youtube that you should stop such a thing because you just commit a crime. Sohn was ethnically Korean, but Korea was a colony of Japan at that time and his nationality was Japanese. Please don't be emotional and please accept an international sense.