Kim Won-kwon ( ko, 김원권; born 13 December 1918), also

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

as Kim Won-gwon, is a Korean former

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

er. Kim was the world's leading triple jumper during the early 1940s and competed in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

Career

Like other Korean athletes of the time, Kim represented

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

while it ruled Korea, winning gold in men's triple jump at the 1939 Vienna International University Games with a jump of 15.37 m. He topped the triple jump world list in 1938 (15.63 m), 1940 (15.68 m), 1941 (15.82 m), 1942 (15.64 m) and 1943 (15.86 m); the last of these marks was his personal best and remained the South Korean record for more than forty years. In 1939 it was reported that Kim had jumped 16.25 m in training, which would have been a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

if duplicated in an official meeting. Kim was also a good long jumper, and would have been a leading favorite in both events at the

1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...

if they had not been cancelled due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Kim represented

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

at the

1948 Olympics 1948 Olympics may refer to: *The 1948 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland *The 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an internation ...

, but by then he had lost his best shape; he placed 18th in the

and 12th in the

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Won-kwon 1918 births Possibly living people South Korean male triple jumpers South Korean male long jumpers Japanese male triple jumpers Japanese male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for South Korea Place of birth missing (living people)