Sohn Kee-chung

Sohn Kee-chung, South Korean runner (died 2002)

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Born: August 29, 1912
Died: November 15, 2002
Zodiac sign: Virgo
Birth year: 1912

About Sohn Kee-chung

Sohn Kee-chung (Korean: 손기정; Korean pronunciation: [son.kidʑʌŋ]; August 29, 1912 – November 15, 2002) was a Korean Olympic athlete and long-distance runner. He became the first 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 was forced to compete as a member of the Japanese delegation because Korea was under Japanese rule at the time. Sohn set an Olympic record of 2 hours 29 minutes 19.2 seconds. Sohn competed under the Japanese name Kitei Son, as Korea was under Japanese occupation during his career.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Sohn Kee-chung was born

Sohn Kee-chung was born in 1912. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1912

Best-selling book"The Harvester" – Gene Stratton-Porter

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentJim Thorpe wins two gold medals at the Stockholm Olympics
Top headlineRMS Titanic sinks on maiden voyage — 1,500+ die
Technology milestoneFirst parachute jump from an airplane
World population~1.72B

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderWilliam Howard Taft
U.S. population94.6M

1912 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Sohn Kee-chung's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1912	2026
Population	94.6M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Olympedia, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.