Weon-Kee KIM

Kim Won-Gi took up wrestling in 1981 when he started studying at the Chonnam National University and was first selected to represent South Korea internationally at the 1983 World Championships held in Kiev, Soviet Union, but Kim’s international début did not happen in 1983 as South Korea decided to boycott the championships at the last minute due to the Soviet decision to allow North Korea’s wrestlers to participate in the tournament. So Kim made his international début at the 1984 Olympic Games, where he won a surprising gold medal in Greco-Roman featherweight. At the Olympics, Kim won four of his five matches in the group round by either fall or technical fall and advanced to the final round to face Swedish Kent-Olle Johansson in the gold medal match. The match was uneventful, although close, with Kim winning a 0-0 match, taking the gold medal on tie-breaking criteria.

The Olympics were Kim’s only international tournament as he retired from wrestling in 1986 after losing his spot on the national team, and a chance to compete at the 1986 Asian Games, to An Dae-Hyeon. Kim graduated from Chonnam National University with a master’s degree in exercise physiology in 1987 and later worked as a salesman with Samsung Life Insurance until 2000. In 2009 Kim received a Ph.D. degree in physical education from Kyung Hee University, but died rather young due to a heart attack after a hiking trip at Chiaksan, a mountain near Wonju, aged only 55.