Won Woo-young

Won Woo-young
Personal information
Born	3 February 1982 Seoul, South Korea
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Sport
Country	South Korea
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	Sabre
Hand	Right-handed
Years on national team	2004–2015
Highest ranking	5 (2010-2011)
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 0 Asian Games 1 2 0 World Championships 1 1 1 Asian Championships 4 4 1 Olympic Games 2012 London Team World Championships 2010 Paris Individual 2014 Kazan Team 2006 Turin Individual Asian Games 2014 Incheon Team 2006 Doha Team 2010 Guangzhou Team Asian Championships 2011 Seoul Individual 2011 Seoul Team 2014 Suwon Team 2015 Singapore Team 2007 Nantong Team 2010 Seoul Team 2012 Wakayama Team 2012 Wakayama Individual 2015 Singapore Individual

Won Woo-young (Hangul: 원우영; Korean pronunciation: [wʌn.u.jʌŋ]; born 3 February 1982) is a South Korean sabre fencer. He won gold at the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games and Asian Championships and is the first Asian fencer to win gold in the men's individual sabre event at the World Championships.

After retiring, he became a sports commentator for Seoul Broadcasting System and covered fencing events at various international tournaments. In November 2021, he was appointed coach of the men's sabre team.

Early life

Won attended Hongik University High School, then one of the few schools in Seoul with a fencing team, and was a year ahead of future sabre teammate Kim Jung-hwan. One of their seniors was foil fencer and future Olympic silver medalist Choi Byung-chul. He graduated from Korea National Sport University in 2004.

Career

Won began competing internationally in 2004 and won the bronze medal at the sabre 2006 World Fencing Championships, after losing 15-10 to Zsolt Nemcsik in the semi-final. At the sabre 2010 World Fencing Championships, he won the gold medal, beating then-world number 1 Nicolas Limbach 15–9 in the final. It was the first time an Asian fencer had won the gold medal at a sabre event in the World Championships.

Won, together with Oh Eun-seok, Kim Jung-hwan and Gu Bon-gil, were selected for the national team to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics The Olympics began on a sour note for them as he, Kim and Gu all did not make it past the semi-final stage of the individual event; he lost in the last 16 to Nikolay Kovalev, the eventual bronze medallist. They managed to win a historic gold in the team event, South Korea's first ever Olympic gold medal in the men's team sabre category. The quartet continued to dominate in the team events; in the year 2014 alone they swept gold at both the Asian Championships and Asian Games hosted at home and won silver at the World Championships. They had a disappointing run at the 2015 World Championships as none of them reached the final in the individual event and then lost by only a point to France in the quarter-finals of the team event. A week later, they successfully defended their team gold medal at the Asian Championships, his last major international competition. He and Oh both retired from the national team at the end of the season.

In 2016 Won was awarded the Order of Sports Merit Cheongnyong (Hangul: 청룡장; English: Blue Dragon) class, the South Korean government's highest honor bestowed on professional athletes who meet the criteria.

Medal Record

Olympic Games

World Championships

World Cup

Grand Prix

Post-retirement

Won retired from the national team in 2015 but continued to play amateurly and coach at his club. He also became a commentator for SBS and covered fencing events at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Asian Games.

In November 2021, ahead of the Orleans Grand Prix, the Korean Fencing Federation announced that Won had been appointed coach of the men's sabre team.

Personal life

Won married his girlfriend of three years, a flight attendant, in September 2015.