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Births on August 29

Sohn Kee-chung
1912Aug, 29

Sohn Kee-chung

Sohn Kee-chung, South Korean runner (d. 2002)
Sohn Kee-chung (Korean: 손기정, Sohn Kee-chung; Korean pronunciation: [son.kidʑʌŋ]; August 29, 1912 – November 15, 2002) was an Olympic athlete and long-distance runner. He became the first ethnic Korean to win a medal at the Olympic Games, winning gold in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was a Korean national, but he had to compete as a member of the Japanese delegation because Korea was under Japanese colonization 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 the colonial rule of the Japanese Empire during his career.

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Events on 1912

  • 6Mar

    Airship

    Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
  • 15Apr

    Sinking of the RMS Titanic

    The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
  • 14Oct

    Theodore Roosevelt

    While campaigning in Milwaukee, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.
  • 17Oct

    First Balkan War

    Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
  • 26Oct

    Thessaloniki

    First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.