Sammy Lee (left) and Kim Yu-na

The Korean American Leadership Foundation gave this year's award for Koreans whose globally recognized achievement made their country proud to Sammy Lee, the 1948 and 1952 Olympic champion in diving, and 2010 Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na.

Lee is the son of a migrant worker who came to Hawaii to work in a sugarcane plantation. He received his MD from the University of Southern California in 1947 and worked as a doctor before he turned to diving. He represented the U.S. in the 1948 London Olympics and 1952 Helsinki Olympics, becoming the first American of Asian descent to win gold medals in the men's platform.

The foundation said Lee should have won the award a long time ago, and although Kim, who is training in Toronto, is not Korean American, she was selected as she made Korea proud in the world.

The award was founded in 2006, and past laureates include Chun Shin-ae, the director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor, and Paull Shin, a member of the Washington State Senate. This year's award ceremony takes place at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles on Aug. 7.