August 9, 1936: His Name Was Sohn Kee-chung

August 9, 1936: The marathon race is held in the Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Officially, it was won by Kitei Son of Japan, a nation that would soon be an ally of the Nazis.

Unofficially, it was a much better story.

His real name was Sohn Kee-chung. He was born on August 29, 1912, in Sinŭiju, in what is now North Korea. Since 1910, however, Korea had been part of the Empire of Japan. And so, any athletes from Korea were forced to compete for Japan, under their flag, and with Japanese names.

Between 1933 and 1936, Sohn Kee-chung ran 12 marathons, finishing in the top 3 in each, and won 9. On November 3, 1935, in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, he set a world record with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 42 seconds.

In the 1936 Olympics, Sohn tried to sign his name in its correct Korean form. But it was not his legal name, and so he was forced to write it in, and compete, as Kitei Son. Another Korean, Nam Sung-yong, entered the marathon, and had to compete under. his legal Japanese name, Nan Shōryū. Sohn won the race in 2 hours, 29 minutes, 19.2 seconds, breaking the Olympic record. Nam finished 3rd, winning the Bronze Medal.

The International Olympic Committee, not recognizing Korea as a member, credited both medals to Japan's total. Sohn refused to acknowledge the Japanese national anthem while it was played at his award ceremony, and later told reporters that he was ashamed to run for Japan.

In 1945, Allied forces forced the surrender of Japan, and Korea was free. But, as part of the peace treaty, a line was drawn at the 38th parallel, and Communist forces had control over the northern part, including Sohn's hometown of Sinŭiju. The Korea War resulted, from 1950 to 1953, and the new border was a diagonal across the country, but roughly around the 38th parallel.

Sohn was named the team manager for Korea's national track & field team. In 1947, his trainee, Suh Yun-Bok, won the Boston Marathon, breaking the record that Sohn had set in Tokyo in 1935. For the Opening Ceremony for the 1948 Olympics in London, the entire Korean team chose Sohn to be their flag bearer. In 1950, another Sohn trainee, Ham Kee-Young, won the Boston Marathon.

In 1988, the Olympics were held in Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea (a.k.a. South Korea). The final runner in the Olympic torch relay, receiving perhaps the greatest ovation anyone has ever received in an Olympic ceremony, was 75-year-old Sohn Kee-chung. He attended the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and saw Hwang Young-Cho win the Olympic marathon.

Sohn died on November 15, 2002. Nam Sung-young, who had worked with him at the Korean Sporting Association, had died a year earlier. On December 9, 2011, the IOC recognized Korean nationality of Sohn, and all other Korean athletes under the Empire of Japan, in their official profiles. 

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August 9, 1936 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-6 and 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. In the opener, Jake Powell singled Bill Dickey home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dickey, Lou Gehrig and rookie Joe DiMaggio all hit home runs. Lefty Gomez started, and Johnny Murphy won in relief. In the nightcap, Gehrig's 3-run triple in the bottom of the 1st provided all the game's runs, and Monte Pearson pitched a 4-hit shutout.

Over the 2 games, Gehrig went 2-for-8 with a walk and 4 RBIs, DiMaggio went 3-for-9 with an RBI, and Dickey went 5-for-6 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Mel Ott went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Boston Bees, 4-0 ant 5-2 at National League Park in Boston. Fred Frankhouse, known as "Freddy Frankhouse with the roundhouse curve," pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 1st game.

This was the year after a 115-loss season that led the former Boston Braves to, as we would say today, "rebrand." It never caught on, and in 1941, the team went back to being the Boston Braves, and the ballpark went back to its former name of Braves Field.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 8-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Jimmie Foxx went 2-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox, 9-1 and 5-2 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-2 and 10-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Over the 2 games, Billy Herman went 5-for-9 with a home run and 4 RBIs, Phil Cavarretta went 5-for-10 with an RBI, Ethan Allen went 5-for-8 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs, and Stan Hack went 4-for-8 with 2 walks and an RBI. For the Pirates, Paul Waner went 4-for-6 with a walk and an RBI, and Lloyd Waner went 2-for-9 with an RBI.

* And the Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-2 and 12-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.