By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Former Asian Games swimming gold medalist Cho Oh-ryun has died of a heart attack. He was 56.
At 11:32 a.m. on Tuesday, his wife, surnamed Lee, found him lying unconscious at his home in Haenam, South Jeolla Province and rushed him to a hospital, where doctors tried to resuscitate him. He died about an hour later.
His wife was quoted as saying that she found him upon returning home after visiting an acquaintance in the vicinity.
He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Meanwhile, the wife passed out after taking a large amount of tranquilizers some three hours after Cho's death, but is no longer in serious condition after having her stomach pumped at a hospital.
According to her elder brother, Lee passed out on her way to the mortuary.
To honor the 30th anniversary of his crossing of the Straits of Korea next year, Cho had camped out on Jeju Island with the plan of repeating the feat. Cho had been at his home since last week.
He had reportedly been plagued by a lack of sponsorship ahead of next year's attempt.
Cho won two gold medals in the 400 and 1,500 meter freestyles at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1970, and repeated the feat at the 1974 Games held in Tehran, Iran. He also finished second in the 200-meter freestyle that year.
In addition, the native of Haenam set 50 Korean records, which earned him the nickname ``Asia's seal.''
He traversed the Straits of Korea, estimated at some 200 kilometers, in 1980 and crossed the Straits of Dover, at 35 kilometers, in 1982.
In 2005, he, along with his two sons, swam between Ulleung Island and Dokdo, 87 kilometers apart, in the East Sea.
He worked for a time as the executive director of the Korea Swimming Federation and was also a member of the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC).
He received two medals from the government, in 1970 and 1980.