Nam Sung-yong

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nan Shōryū at the 1936 Olympic Games

Nam Sung-yong ( kor. 남승룡 , 南 昇 龍 ) (born November 23, 1912 in Suncheon in Chōsen , former Japanese Empire , today's South Korea ; † February 20, 2001 ) was a South Korean marathon runner who was successful around the mid-1930s was. Since Korea was not an independent state at that time, but part of the Japanese Empire, he had to start for Japan . He was forced by the Japanese to use the Japanese reading of his name 南 昇 竜 Nan Shōryū in competitions, under which he was then also known.

The 1.65 m tall and 56 kg athlete finished in the top five of four races between 1933 and 1936 (all of which took place in Tokyo):

  • 1933, November 3rd (Japanese national championships): 2:32:33 hours (2nd)
  • 1935, October 13: 2:39:05 hours (2nd)
  • 1935, November 3rd: 2:36:52 hours (4th)
  • 1936, May 21 (Olympic elimination): 2:36:03 hours (1st)

At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin , he took part with two other Japanese people of Korean origin - Son Kitei and Shiwaku Tamao . When Juan Carlos Zabala , the Olympic champion from Los Angeles four years earlier, had prematurely ended the race at 32 km, the way was clear for Son Kitei and Nan Shōryū. Son set a new Olympic record with 2: 29: 19.2 hours and was Olympic champion with over two minutes ahead of Briton Ernest Harper (silver in 2: 31: 23.2 hours). Nan Shōryū ran a personal best in 2: 31: 42.0 hours and safely won the bronze medal - the fourth-placed, Finn Erkki Tamila , only crossed the finish line a good minute later.

After finishing his sporting career Nan Shōryū - now under his real name Nam Sung-yong - worked for the Korean Athletics Federation. In April 1947, the now 34-year-old competed in the Boston Marathon again and came in a respectable 10th place in 2:40:10 hours.

Web links