Park Tae-hwan

Personal information
Full name	Park Tae-hwan
Nickname(s)	Marine Boy[1]
Nationality	South Korean
Born	(1989-09-27) September 27, 1989 (age 23) Seoul, South Korea
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2]
Weight	163 pounds (74 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	freestyle
College team	Dankook University
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for  South Korea Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing 400 m freestyle Silver 2008 Beijing 200 m freestyle Silver 2012 London 400 m freestyle Silver 2012 London 200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 2007 Melbourne 400 m freestyle Gold 2011 Shanghai 400 m freestyle Bronze 2007 Melbourne 200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Silver 2006 Shanghai 400 m freestyle Silver 2006 Shanghai 1500 m Freestyle Asian Games Gold 2006 Doha 200 m freestyle Gold 2006 Doha 400 m freestyle Gold 2006 Doha 1500 m freestyle Gold 2010 Guangzhou 100 m freestyle Gold 2010 Guangzhou 200 m freestyle Gold 2010 Guangzhou 400 m freestyle Silver 2006 Doha 100 m freestyle Silver 2010 Guangzhou 1500 m freestyle Silver 2010 Guangzhou 4x100 m medley Bronze 2006 Doha 4x100 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Doha 4x200 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Doha 4x100 m medley Bronze 2010 Guangzhou 4x100 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Guangzhou 4x200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2006 Victoria 400 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 1500 m freestyle Gold 2010 Irvine 400 m freestyle Silver 2006 Victoria 200 m freestyle Silver 2010 Irvine 200 m freestyle

Park Tae-hwan (born September 27, 1989) is a South Korean swimmer. He is a member of the South Korean national swimming team, based in Taereung, Seoul. He won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle and a silver in the 200 meter freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is the first Asian swimmer to claim a gold medal in men's 400 m freestyle, and the first Korean to win an Olympic medal in swimming.

Personal life [edit]

Born in Seoul in 1989, Park graduated from Dankook University in February 2012,^[3] where he majored in physical education. His father is a saxophone player and his mother is a dancer. He currently serves as a goodwill ambassador for 'Dynamic Korea', South Korea's international image-making campaign, alongside international figure skater Kim Yu-Na.^[4] Park Tae-hwan is one of Asia's top men's freestyle swimmers. He was voted Most Valuable Player at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar where he won seven medals including three gold. The 22-year-old trains in Melbourne and is also a Pan Pacific Champion. He was voted Swimming World's Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year in 2006.

Park, as an Olympic and Asian Games medalist, has been granted an exemption from two years of mandatory military service, however is still required to undergo four weeks of basic training, which he reported for on 4 October 2012.^[5]

Career [edit]

Park began swimming at the age of 5 when his doctor suggested it would be good for his asthma. He began his competitive swimming career at the age of 7, earning several medals in junior competitions.^[6] This early success led to Park's selection to the Korean Swimming Federation as a national team member in 2003. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, however, Park was disqualified for a false start in the preliminary heat of the men's 400 m freestyle.^[7] However, shortly thereafter at the 2004 Fina Swimming World Cup, Park was the runner-up in the men's 400 meter freestyle event. At 2011's Santa Clara Grand Prix, Park beat Michael Phelps in the 100 meter freestyle, winning by more than half a second.

2006 Asian Games [edit]

Park continued his competitive success in subsequent years, most notably at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, where he won three golds, one silver and three bronze medals, the most medals won by a single athlete at the Games. He also set two Asian Records. For his success, Park was named an Athlete of the Games.^[8]

At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Victoria, Canada, Park won two gold medals (in the 1500 meter freestyle and the 400 meter freestyle) and one silver medal (200 m freestyle).

Park was named the 2006 Pacific Rim Male Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine, beating out Olympic medalist (and 2005 awardee) Australian Grant Hackett for the honor.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle event and a silver medal in the 200 meter freestyle event. In swimming 1:44.85 in the 200m freestyle final, Park joined Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe, and Pieter van den Hoogenband as the only men to have ever swum under 1:45 in the event.

Much of the press coverage surrounding Park's successes emphasize the fact that these are the first Olympic medals in swimming for South Korea.

2006 Pan Pacific Championships [edit]

At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Victoria, Canada, Park won two gold medals (in the 1500 meter freestyle and the 400 meter freestyle) and one silver medal (200 m freestyle).

2007 World Championships [edit]

Beijing Bid [edit]

Just after a stunning victory against idol Grant Hackett in the men's 400m freestyle at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Park decided to train alone in Sydney, Australia as his own '500-day project', parting with his personal managing team in December 2007. He then joined the Korean national team training base in February 2008 to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Under Park's personal coach Roh Min-sang and other members of the coaching staff, the national team trained in Malaysia (February 2008) and Guam (May 2008) to prepare Park for his second attempt at the Olympics. He qualified for competition in the men's 200 meter, 400 meter and 1500 meter freestyle events.^[9]

2008 Summer Olympics [edit]

Olympic medal record
2008 Beijing – Men's swimming
Competitor for  South Korea
Gold	400 m freestyle	3:41.86 (AS)
Silver	200 m freestyle	1:44.85 (AS)
2012 London – Men's swimming
Competitor for  South Korea
Silver	400 m freestyle	3:42.06 (AS)
Silver	200 m freestyle	1:44.93 (AS)

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle event and a silver medal in the 200 meter freestyle event. In swimming 1:44.85 in the 200m freestyle final, Park joined Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe, and Pieter van den Hoogenband as the only men to have ever swum under 1:45 in the event.

2009 World Championships [edit]

At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Park surprised many after failing to qualify to swim in the finals of the 200 and 400 m freestyle.^[10] Some blame Park's poor performance on his decision to wear Speedo's LZR Racer in the championships.^[11][12]

2010 Asian Games [edit]

2011 World Championships [edit]

2012 Summer Olympics [edit]

During the 400-meter qualifying heat race, Park was initially disqualified for a false start. Shortly after the South Korean Federation met with the FINA bureau the ruling was successfully overturned and Park was reinstated into the race. He won silver in the finals of the 400-meter race despite the discouraging erroneous ruling he previously underwent.^[13]

In the 200 m freestyle, Park managed to repeat his silver medal from Beijing by tying China's Sun Yang with a matching time of 1:44.93.^[14][15]

In his third and final event, 1500 m freestyle, Park posted a South Korean record of 14:50.61, but missed the podium by a 10.3-second margin behind defending Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia.^[16]

Personal bests [edit]

• 100m 48.70 (2010) 2010 Asian Games Final; won a gold medal
• 200m 1:44.80 (2010) Asian Record 2010 Asian Games Final; won a gold medal
• 400m 3:41.53 (2010) 2010 Asian Games Final; won a gold medal
• 1500m 14:47.38 (2012) Swimming at a race in Sydney

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Park Tae-Hwan

• Official Webpage by Korean Sports Council(Korean)
• Athletes' bio of Park Tae-hwan, provided by NBCOlympics.com

Awards
Preceded by Grant Hackett	World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Kosuke Kitajima