Kim Ki-hoon
Short-track speed skater (born 1967)
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Kim Ki-hoon (born July 14, 1967) is a retired short-track speed skater and the first gold medalist in the Winter Olympics for South Korea. Kim is a three-time Olympic Champion and 1992 Overall World Champion.
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| Born | July 14, 1967 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |  South Korea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Short track speed skating | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| World finals | World Championship 1992 Overall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
Kim first garnered attention when he participated in the short-track demonstration event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, winning the gold medal in the 1500 metres.[1]
Kim swept all the gold medals available in short-track speed skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, winning won the gold medal in the 1000 metres in a world record time of 1:30.76, and claiming another gold in the 5000 metre relay in a world record time of 7:14.02. Kim went on to win his first world overall champion at the 1992 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Denver. At the championships, Kim captured all five individual gold medals (overall, 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m), which made him become the second skater to sweep all five individual world championship gold medals available (Canada's Sylvie Daigle first achieved the feat at the 1983 World Championships), and the first male one.
Kim Ki-hoon defended his gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, winning the 1000 metres with a time of 1:34.57.[2]
Post career
In 2002, Kim was appointed as a coach of the Korean national short-track speed-skating team. He participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as the head coach of the South Korean national team.[3]
Kim Ki-hoon is known as the leader who helped Viktor An (Ahn Hyun-soo) to become a world-class player.[4][5]
In addition, the Korean national team won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, while he headed the team. However, in March 2010, the match-fixing between the two Olympic medalists, Lee Jung-su and Kwak Yoon-gy, and the deal for the right to participate in the Olympics and the World Championships became a big issue in the Korean society, and they received a three-years suspension from the Korea Sports Council after it was confirmed that it took place under the instructions and supervision of the coaches.[6][7] The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee did not pay Kim the reward that successfully led the Olympics at the time. In August 2012, Kim filed a lawsuit with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and won a court lawsuit and was able to receive his Olympic reward three years later.[8]
He was the head of the Gangneung Athletes' Village during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.[4]
Kim is currently serving as a full professor at Ulsan College.[9]