Lee Bong-ju, who participated in the 2024 Samcheok Hwang Young-jo International Marathon. Captured from the Gangwon Ilbo YouTube channel.
The ‘National Marathoner’ Lee Bong-ju (54), who was bent and broken due to a rare disease, took part in the marathon and ran again after four years.
On the 21st, Lee Bong-ju participated in the ’28th Samcheok Hwang Yeong-jo International Marathon’. He was diagnosed with ‘dystonia’ in 2020 after suffering from unexplained pain. After four years of surgery and recovery, he stood at the starting line again.
A video was posted on Kangwon Ilbo’s YouTube channel showing Lee Bong-ju smiling and running with the number ‘11342’ among many participants. On this day, Lee Bong-ju ran about 150 meters and impressed many people. Hwang Young-jo, director of the Korea Sports Promotion Organization, also stayed by Lee Bong-ju’s side.
Lee Bong-ju said, “It’s unfortunate that my father-in-law, who was always with me, died last November and he couldn’t come with us. “My father-in-law is probably here somewhere to congratulate me,” he said “Today is a meaningful day when I become Samcheok’s son-in-law, our wedding anniversary.”
He said, “As you can see, it’s getting better than last year. It keeps getting better. “It’s not 100% better, but it’s about 60%,” he said, adding, “I’m still improving, so I want to improve in the future and build a body that can complete 10km, half, and full courses .”
He also told his fans, “Thank you very much for your concern. As you can see, my body has improved a lot. “I will continue to improve and look forward to the day when I can play with you all,” he said.
The ‘dystonia’ he was diagnosed with is a rare disease which causes muscles to stiffen or the body to twist regardless of will. It is a disease where certain muscles distort, tense and contract, placing the body in an abnormal posture.
Lee Bong-ju suffered from this disease, causing his neck to bend to 90 degrees and his back to bend, drawing public sympathy. In the meantime, in 2021, I had an operation to remove a spinal arachnoid cyst which took over 6 hours.
Before that, Lee Bong-ju won a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, gold medals at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and the 2002 Busan Asian Games, and won the Boston Marathon in 2001, earning him nicknames such as ‘Immortal Marathoner’ and ‘Bongdali’.
The Korea Sports Council highly evaluated his career and the fact that he gave the people dreams and hope, and chose Lee Bong-ju as the ‘Korean Sports Hero’ in 2022.
The record of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 20 seconds set by Lee Bong-ju at the Tokyo International Marathon in 2000 has not been broken for 23 years.
Kim Ye-seul, Donga.com reporter seul56@donga.com
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