japan running news

Meiji University's Nam Seungryong at the 1936 Berlin Olympics Like everywhere else, athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia have had a major impact at the Hakone Ekiden over the last 35 years. But almost 70 years before the first two Kenyans suited up in the Yamanashi Gakuin University colors, athletes from another country had an even bigger impact on the event's formative years, a legacy that is mostly forgotten now, or at least unacknowledged. Following Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, it set about reshaping and modernizing the Korean educational system at all levels, founding universities like Keijo Imperial University in what later became Seoul, and bringing students to study at universities within Japan itself. But a college education remained a relative rarity, with less than 0.05% of the population having gone to university by the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945. The Hakone Ekiden began during this period, and at its 3rd running in 1922 two athletes from occup...

http://japanese.joins.com/article/527/223527.html translated by Brett Larner photo by Horst Milde A bronze statue of marathoner Sohn Kee-Chung showing him crossing the finish line in first in the 1936 Berlin Olympics marathon has been raised near the Berlin Olympic Stadium.  On its chest is not the Rising Sun, Japan's national flag, but the Korean flag. On Dec. 12, the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin held a ceremony to unveil the statue on Glockenturm Street near the Berlin Olympics marathon course. Sohn's grandson Lee Jung-Soon , director of the Sohn Kee-Chung Memorial Foundation, said, "Being remembered as the Korean Sohn Kee-Chung was my grandfather's greatest wish.  I am deeply moved to help realize that wish by placing this statue outside the Berlin Olympic Stadium." In 2006, the 70th anniversary of Sohn's victory, the Foundation had previously tried to erect two bronze statues, one in the Seoul Olympic Stadium and the other at the Berlin O...

http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3003692&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist2 Background on this story: Part 1 - Part 2 Note: Sohn Kee Chung competed in the 1936 Olympics under the Japanese flag during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

Today I attended an event at the Berlin Sports Museum's AIMS Marathon - Museum of Running through an invitation from Berlin Marathon founder Horst Milde  and Dr. Helmut Winter .  A few pictures from the day: 1936 Berlin Olympics marathon gold medalist Sohn Kee Chung  of Korea with eyes covered and downcast to avoid looking at the Japanese flag and doing his best to cover the Rising Sun on his chest during the medal ceremony. The Naoko Takahashi booth, including one of the shoes she wore in her historic first-ever women's sub-2:20 WR at the 2001 Berlin Marathon. Berlin Marathon founder Horst Milde (center) with the first two Berlin Marathon winners, 1974 champ Guenter Hallas (right) and 1975 winner Ralf Bachroeder (left)   Presenting the rarest and strangest race t-shirt in my collection, a signed shirt from the cancelled 30th anniversary running of the Kanagawa Half Marathon featuring a picture of an aged 1988 Seoul Olympics marath...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20111216-877260.html translated by Brett Larner On Dec. 15 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that in its official website listing of Olympic medalists the entry for Japanese citizen and 1936 Berlin Olympics marathon gold medalist, the late Son Kitei , would be changed to Sohn Kee-Chung , the Korean pronunciation of his name.  The record will also include a note explaining that he was a native of the Korean peninsula, a Japanese colony at the time. The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) has long demanded that the listing of Son's name be changed from the Japanese reading "Son Kitei."  An IOC spokesperson commented, "We don't want to change Olympic history," explaining that the switch to the Korean pronunciation will not be made in the official records, to which a footnote giving the Korean pronunciation "Sohn Kee-Chung" will be appended. Also to be included are an account of a Ko...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/sports/olympics/15korea.html?_r=2 The Japanese broadcast of the Beijing Olympic men's marathon included footage of Japan's Olympic marathon medalists at each commerical break. Sohn Kee-Chung and Nam Seung-Yong were included.