Ham Gi-Yong

One of the greatest achievements in Korean distance running occurred in April 1950 when Ham Kee-Yong won the Boston Marathon in a time of 2:32:39. The podium in Boston that year was a clean-sweep for the nation with all three medallists coming from South Korea. Ham had been coached by Son Gi-Jeong, another great in Korean running, who had won the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Prior to his victory in Boston, Ham had been selected to run in the 10,000 metres at the 1948 London Olympics, but ultimately did not start the race. Four years later he was preparing to compete in a selection event for the marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, but an injury meant he was unable to compete, with him then calling time on his athletics career. Ham later became a banker and a civil servant, returning to sport in 1989 where he worked as an executive director of the Korea Athletics Federation.