Cho Oh-Ryun, Asian Games Gold Medalist, Inducted to South Korea’s Sports Hall of Fame

Photo Courtesy: Mike Lewis/ISL

Cho Oh-Ryun, the South Korean swimmer who won four Asian Games gold medals in the 1970s, was announced Friday as an inductee to South Korea’s Sports Hall of Fame.

The announcement was made by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, inducting Cho as a “Sports Hero” in a vote by journalists and the public.

The induction will take place Nov. 3. Cho, who passed away at of a heart attack in 2009 at age 56, was on the ballot for two years. The swimmer known as “the Asian Seal” is one of only 13 athletes and administrators to earn the honor since the KSOC started the Hall in 2011.

Cho won gold medals in the 400 freestyle and 1,500 freestyle at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok. He defended both titles four years later in Tehran. In between he was the only South Korean swimmer to take part in the 1972 Olympics. He set 50 national records in his swimming career before retiring in 1978.

After he was done in the pool, Cho embarked on a long open-water career. His feats included becoming the first person to cross the Korean Strait between Busan, South Korea, and the Japanese island of Tsushima (a 33-mile voyage) in 1980 and crossing the Straits of Dover in 1982. In 2008, he made 33 trips around the contested Dokdo Islands (by its Korean name, also known in Japanese as the Takeshima Islands or in English, the Liancourt Rocks) in the Sea of Japan to raise awareness about its sovereignty.

Cho also served on the board of the Korea Swimming Federation starting in 1998.

His son, Cho Sung-Mo was also an international swimmer, winning a silver medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan in the 1,500 and making the Olympics in 2000 and 2004. That inspired Cho Oh-Ryun, suffering from depression after the death of his first wife in 2001, to return to the water, swimming 235 kilometers down the Han River in 2003. He and his two sons also swam a relay from Ulleung Island to Dokdo in 2005, covering more than 87 kiometers.

Cho was chosen over three other candidates: Four-Time Olympic gold medal archer Kim Soo-Nyung, 1992 Olympic men’s marathon winner Hwang Young-Cho and baseball pitcher Sun Dong-Yol. An avowed South Korean patriot, the Yonhap News Agency said the award, “recognized Cho’s contribution to laying the groundwork for the development of swimming in South Korea and also praised him for inspiring the nation with his indomitable spirit and undying patriotism.”

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