Kim Min-suk (; born February 3, 1979) is a retired South Korean swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and backstroke events. He is a two-time Olympian (1996 and 2000), and a double medalist at the

2002 Asian Games The 2002 Asian Games ( ko, 2002년 아시아 경기대회/2002년 아시안 게임, Icheoni-nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheoni-nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the XIV Asian Games ( ko, 제14회 아시아 경기대회/제14회 아시안 � ...

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

. Kim made his official debut, as a 17-year-old, at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. He failed to reach the top 16 final in the

100 m backstroke 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, finishing in thirty-ninth place with a time of 58.43. He also placed fifteenth as a member of the South Korean team in the 4×200 m freestyle relay (7:45.98), and seventeenth in the 4×100 m medley relay (3:50.84). At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Kim decided to experiment with the sprint freestyle, competing only in two swimming events. He posted FINA B-standards of 22.99 (50 m freestyle) and 51.14 (100 m freestyle) from the Dong-A Swimming Tournament in

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

. In the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

, Kim placed twenty-fourth on the morning's prelims. Swimming in heat six, he picked up a second spot by 0.21 of a second behind winner

Peter Mankoč Peter Mankoč (born 4 July 1978 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian swimmer. He is one of the most successful short course European Championship swimmers in the history of the event. Mankoč is the former world record holder in the 100 meter ...

of Slovenia in a lifetime best of 50.49. Two days later, in the 50 m freestyle, Kim missed the semifinals by a small fraction of 0.02 seconds, finishing a tie with China's Jiang Chengji in a South Korean record of 22.82. When his nation hosted the

, Kim won a total of two medals, one gold and one bronze. In the 50 m freestyle, Kim was delighted and overwhelmed by the home crowd, as he shared a gold medal with Uzbekistan's

Ravil Nachaev Ravil Nachaev (also ''Ravil Nagayev'', rus, Равиль Начаев; born June 17, 1974 in Tashkent) is an Uzbek former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. He is a three-time Olympian (1996, 2000, and 2004), and ...

in a matching time of 22.86, just 0.04 seconds outside his record from Sydney two years before. He also captured a bronze, along with his teammates Sung Min,

Han Kyu-Chul Han Kyu-chul (also ''Han Gyu-cheol'', ko, 한 규철; born December 24, 1981) is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004), and an eight-time ...

, and Ko Yun-Ho, in the 4×100 m freestyle relay (3:23.58).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Min-suk 1979 births Living people South Korean male backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for South Korea Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1998 Asian Games Swimmers at the 2002 Asian Games Swimmers at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in swimming South Korean male freestyle swimmers Swimmers from Seoul Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games 21st-century South Korean people Competitors at the 2001 Summer Universiade Dong-a University alumni