Yong-Ju JEE

Although he had been a boxer since his high school days, the South Korean Olympic delegation had low expectations for light-flyweight fighter Ji Young-Ju at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Nevertheless he battled his way through four rounds and was bested only by Francisco Rodríguez in the final round, and thus captured a silver medal. He had left as an unlikely prospect, but returned to his home country a hero, a reputation that was only bolstered by his gold medal victory in the flyweight category of the boxing tournament at the 1970 Asian Games. He did not make the cut for the 1972 Summer Olympics and, by 1976, he had made the decision to retire. Like many former Olympic medalists, he took up coaching and in 1979 was called to the capital city to help train the national team, but he quickly dropped out of this position. He was stabbed during a fight with his neighbor in August of 1985 and died after five days of excessive bleeding. A statue in the Sports Park of his hometown of Wonju was erected in honor of his Olympic success.