©IOC

Sohn Kee-chung was 76 when he took part in the Olympic Torch Relay in Seoul on 17 September 1988. He was chosen for this symbolic role because he was the first Asian to win an Olympic marathon: at the 1936 Games in Berlin. At the time, Sohn Kee-chung won the marathon under the colours of Japan and with a Japanese name (Kitei Son). This was because, at the time, Korea had been under Japanese occupation since 1910.