Hwang Yeong-Jo

Hwang Young-Cho was a promising track athlete as a junior but, after winning his first marathon, in 1991, he elected to concentrate on the marathon. The Barcelona Olympic marathon was only the fourth of his career, but he had won two with one runner-up finish. In Barcelona Hwang was in the leading pack from the start, but in a slowly run race, a large pack was together at the halfway mark. By 35 km, however, only Hwang and Japan’s Koichi Morishita remained. At 40 km, Hwang finally dropped Morishita and went on to win the gold medal. Hwang raced sparingly after Barcelona, and retired after injury prevented him from making the 1996 Korean Olympic team.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-08:09 (1994).