Sim Kwon-ho
Unbeaten at the majors from 1994 until retirement
- Born
- October 12, 1972, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
- Nationality
South Korea- Height
- 160 cm (5′3″)
- Style
- Roll-through specialist
- Weight
- 48 kg, 54 kg
- Active
- 1990–2000
- Status
- Retired · age 54
The medals
2 Olympic golds; 2 world titles
The story
im Kwon-ho started wrestling at 13 and was on South Korea's national team by 1990. Controversially left off the 1992 Olympic team despite finishing first at the trials, he took world bronze at 48 kg in 1993. From the 1994 Asian Games until his retirement in 2000 he did not lose a match at the Olympics, world championships, Asian Games or Asian Championships. In the Atlanta 1996 final he beat Belarus's Aleksandr Pavlov 4–0 with two roll-throughs, one late in regulation and one in overtime. When the 48 kg class was scrapped he moved up to 54 kg, won the 1998 world title and took a second Olympic gold in Sydney, beating Cuba's Lázaro Rivas 8–0 in the final. He remains the only South Korean wrestler with two Olympic golds.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion (1996, 48 kg; 2000, 54 kg)
- World champion (1995, 48 kg; 1998, 54 kg)
- Asian Games champion (1994, 1998)
Defining matches
- 1993World bronze Stockholm (48 kg)
- 1996WINvs Aleksandr Pavlov (Olympic final, 4–0)
- 2000WINvs Kang Yong-gyun (Olympic semi-final, 10–0)
- 2000WINvs Lázaro Rivas (Olympic final, 8–0)
Learn the roll-through from par terre: lock high around the chest, keep your weight on him and roll through to expose his back. Sim won the 1996 Olympic final 4–0 with two of them.
1986–2000
