Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Native name | 손기정 | |||||||||||
Born | Shingishu, Heianhoku-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan | August 29, 1912|||||||||||
Died | November 15, 2002 Seoul, South Korea | (aged 90)|||||||||||
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 |
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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]