Son Gijeong

Sohn Kee-chung was a marathon runner active during the period of Japanese colonial rule over Korea. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics he won the marathon and took the gold medal, but because his country had lost its sovereignty he was forced to compete as part of the Japanese team. He became the central figure of the "erasure of the Japanese flag" incident, when Korean newspapers removed the flag of Japan from his uniform in the podium photograph, and his victory brought great pride to Koreans living under colonial rule.