Ex-marathoner appointed honorary ambassador of World Firefighters Games

Marathon hero Lee Bong-ju, left, holds a certificate appointing him as an honorary ambassador of the World Firefighters Games Chungju 2018, after receiving it from National Fire Agency Commissioner Jo Jong-mook at the Government Complex in Sejong, Tuesday. / Courtesy of National Fire Agency

By Kim Jae-heun

Marathon hero Lee Bong-ju, 46, has been appointed as an honorary ambassador of the 13th World Firefighters Games that kick off Sept. 10 in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province.

The National Fire Agency held the appointment ceremony at the Government Complex in Sejong, Tuesday, with Fire Commissioner Jo Jong-mook giving Lee the certificate of ambassadorship.

“It is an honor to take part in the World Firefighters Game Chungju, which brings all the firemen around the world to participate in this global festival, as an ambassador,” Lee said. “I will participate in one of the events, a 5-kilometer marathon, and run with the firefighters.”

The commissioner also expressed his satisfaction with Lee's appointment and said he cannot feel more confident to have Lee.

“Your participation will help us successfully host the games and make them an impressive one,” Jo said.

The World Firefighters Game will have an opening ceremony Sept. 9 and run for a week. Nearly 6,000 firefighters from more than 50 countries will join the event competing in 75 sports.

Lee is a marathon silver medalist from the Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, the United States, in 1996, and won the Boston Marathon in 2001.

In the Tokyo Marathon in 2000, he set a Korean record of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 20 seconds, beating his own record of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 44 seconds set in the Rotterdam Marathon two years before. Lee's race time in Japan has not been broken until now and he is still a national record holder.

Lee also won at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, which gave him a second gold medal after his first in 1998 at the Bangkok Asian Games.

Throughout his 19-year career, Lee finished 41 marathons and set two national records.