The Most Famous

ATHLETES from South Korea

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This page contains a list of the greatest South Korean Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 96 of which were born in South Korea. This makes South Korea the birth place of the 35th most number of Athletes behind Mexico, and Greece.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South Korean Athletes of all time. This list of famous South Korean Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South Korean Athletes.

Photo of Wallace

1. Wallace (b. 0)

With an HPI of 64.46, Wallace is the most famous South Korean Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 34 different languages on wikipedia.

Wallace may refer to:

Photo of Nam Sung-yong

2. Nam Sung-yong (1912 - 2001)

With an HPI of 58.41, Nam Sung-yong is the 2nd most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Nam Sung-yong (November 23, 1912 – February 20, 2001) was a Korean Olympian who won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1936 Summer Olympics, completing the run in 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 42 seconds. He was born in Junten (Suncheon), Korea, Empire of Japan and received higher education in Japan. Like the gold medalist Sohn Kee-chung, Nam Sung-yong used the Japanese pronunciation of his name, Nan Shōryū as Korea was then a part of the Japanese Empire. After the Olympics, Nam Sung-yong worked at the Korean Sporting Association with Sohn Kee-chung.

Photo of Hwang Young-cho

3. Hwang Young-cho (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 51.15, Hwang Young-cho is the 3rd most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Hwang Young-cho (Korean: 황영조; born 22 March 1970) is a former South Korean athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1994 Asian Games.

Photo of Im Dong-hyun

4. Im Dong-hyun (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 50.46, Im Dong-hyun is the 4th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Im Dong-hyun (Korean: 임동현; Korean pronunciation: [im.doŋ.ɦjʌn]; born 12 May 1986) is a South Korean archer. He competes for the South Korean national team and is a former world number one. He has 20/200 vision in his left eye and 20/100 vision in his right eye, meaning he needs to be 10 times closer to see objects clearly with his left eye, compared to someone with perfect vision.

Photo of Viktor An

5. Viktor An (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 48.31, Viktor An is the 5th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Viktor An (Russian: Виктор Ан; born Ahn Hyun-soo (Korean: 안현수) on November 23, 1985), is a South Korean-born Russian short-track speed skating coach and retired short-track speed skater. With a total of eight Olympic medals, six gold and two bronze, he is the only short track speed skater in Olympic history to win gold in every distance, and the first to win a medal in every distance at a single Games. He has the most Olympic gold medals in the sport, three of which he won in the 2006 Winter Olympics and the other three in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Considered to be the greatest short track speed skater of all time, he is a six-time overall World champion (2003–2007, 2014), two-time overall World Cup winner (2003–04, 2005–06), and the 2014 European champion. He holds the most overall titles at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, and is the only male short track skater to win five consecutive world titles. In 2008, Ahn suffered a knee injury and could not regain his health by the time the national qualifiers for Vancouver 2010 came around. His recovery being slow and his South Korean local team dissolved in 2010, Ahn, aiming for his second Olympics, became a Russian citizen the next year and began racing for the Russian team. After winning gold in Sochi, Ahn explained his reasons for joining the Russian team saying, "I wanted to train in the best possible environment and I proved my decision was not wrong." As expected, a gold-winning athlete leaving the national team caused public uproar in South Korea. However, it was aimed not at Ahn, but at the country's skating union. Most South Korean fans in a poll said they understood his decision. Ahn continued his skating career in his adopted nation until 2019 and declared his retirement in April 2020. In 2023, Ahn returned to Korea as a short track leader. Ahn returned to South Korea and applied to be a coach for Seongnam's short track speed skating team, despite having renounced his South Korean citizenship when becoming Russian. However, since his change in 2014 he had been increasingly criticized for his work in Russia amid the Russo-Ukrainian War and his coaching position in the Chinese team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Some Korean coaches have formed The Korea Skating Coaches' Union and urged "Seongnam to appoint a coach that meets the public eye level" and criticized Ahn that he "lied during the naturalization process and betrayed his country". and He was criticized by the public for betraying his country by transferring Korean sports skills to Russia and China. Ahn was eventually denied the coaching position due to significant public opposition. After being denied his position as Seongnam City Hall coach due to strong public opposition, Ahn explained the controversy he knew about his loss of nationality in advance and receives a full Olympic medal pension prior to Russian naturalization. He said: "I donated every pension I had received prior to naturalization". According to his explanation and a Korean ice skating official mentioned in Chosun Ilbo shortly thereafter, the entire lump sum pension he received was spent on rehabilitating "children who needed heart surgery and Korean junior players". And he make his first start as a Korean Sports leader, being named as a coach in the 2023–2024 national team trials at the request of his juniors. The Korea Skating Union officially announced this through Yonhap News Agency, and the Korean media reported it collectively.

Photo of Kim Woo-jin

6. Kim Woo-jin (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 48.18, Kim Woo-jin is the 6th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Kim Woo-jin (Korean: 김우진; Korean pronunciation: [ki.mu.dʑin] or [kim] [u.dʑin]; born June 20, 1992) is a South Korean archer specializing in recurve archery. He first held the world number one ranking in 2011. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he set a world record in men's individual recurve archery as well as won the gold medal as a member of the South Korean men's archery team. During the 2024 Summer Olympics, he earned an Olympic gold medal in the men's individual event after a tiebreaker with American archer Brady Ellison. This victory marked Kim's fifth gold medal overall and his third consecutive Olympics in which he won a gold medal. He is also a three-time world champion in the men's individual recurve event at the World Archery Championships. His record of five Olympic gold medals is the most won by any archer in the world, surpassing the four won by Kim Soo-nyung. It also makes him the most awarded Korean Olympian of all time in any sport. He is right-handed, and uses 30-inch (76 cm) arrows and a draw weight of 46 pounds (21 kg).

Photo of Dong Hyun Kim

7. Dong Hyun Kim (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 48.15, Dong Hyun Kim is the 7th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Kim Dong-hyun (Korean: 김동현; born November 17, 1981), anglicized as Dong Hyun Kim, is a South Korean retired mixed martial artist who most notably fought in the UFC's welterweight division. He was signed by the UFC after fighting in the Japanese promotion DEEP and in the South Korean promotion Spirit MC. Kim is also prominent as a regular cast member in variety shows Master in the House, DoReMi Market, The Return of Superman, and Strong Heart.

Photo of Song Dae-nam

8. Song Dae-nam (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 47.99, Song Dae-nam is the 8th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Song Dae-Nam (Korean: 송대남; Korean pronunciation: [soŋ.dɛ̝.nam]; born 5 April 1979 in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province) is a former South Korean judoka. Song rose to prominence when he won the gold medal in the middleweight division at the 2012 Olympics. He was then nominated as the flagbearer for Korea in the closing ceremony. He is best known as the head coach of the South Korea Men's National Team, having produced two world champions in his first year as head coach. Song moved up a weight class from half-middleweight to middleweight in 2012 after constant defeats to teammate Kim Jae-bum and inability to qualify for the Olympics in 2008.

Photo of Kim Young-ho

9. Kim Young-ho (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 47.85, Kim Young-ho is the 9th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Kim Young-ho (born April 9, 1971 in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea) is a South Korean foil fencer. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he won the gold medal in individual foil, defeating Ralf Bissdorf of Germany in the final. He became the first Olympic Champion in fencing from Korea, and the first Asian man to win an Olympic Gold medal in fencing. At the 1997 World Championships he had perhaps one of the most heroic losses in top level fencing. With approximately 2 minutes left in the final period, Kim was down 11-3 to Sergei Golubitsky of Ukraine. As direct elimination fencing bouts go to 15 touches, most fencers would presume Kim was about done and was fencing for pride. 8 touches later Kim had tied the score. He and Golubitsky (as Sergei stated on his "Golden Bouts" tape, "and now the nightmare begins....the comeback of Kim") traded touches until Kim finally lost 15–14. At la belle (tied for the last touch, 14-14), Kim almost pulled the win out, but his attack failed to register (although he had struck valid target) and Golubitsky dodged a bullet, allowing him the chance to win the bout.

Photo of Kim Ki-hoon

10. Kim Ki-hoon (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 47.46, Kim Ki-hoon is the 10th most famous South Korean Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

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.

People

Pantheon has 96 people classified as South Korean athletes born between 1912 and 2004. Of these 96, 95 (98.96%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South Korean athletes include Wallace, Hwang Young-cho, and Im Dong-hyun. The most famous deceased South Korean athletes include Nam Sung-yong. As of April 2024, 96 new South Korean athletes have been added to Pantheon including Wallace, Nam Sung-yong, and Hwang Young-cho.

Living South Korean Athletes

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Deceased South Korean Athletes

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Newly Added South Korean Athletes (2024)

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