Korea National Sport University (KNSU) is a South Korean national university located in the neighborhood of Bangi-dong,

Songpa-gu Songpa-gu (Hangul: 송파구) is a ''district'' of Seoul, South Korea. Previously known as Wiryeseong, the first capital of the kingdom of Baekje, Songpa is located in the southeastern part of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. With rou ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. It is the only national sport university of South Korea and offers degrees from undergraduate to doctoral level. Its broad range of course offerings caters to amateur athletes, professional athletes representing the national team and accredited physical education teachers.

History

The success of wrestler

Yang Jung-mo Yang Jung-Mo (Hangul: 양정모, Hanja: 梁正模; born January 22, 1953 in Busan) is a retired South Korean Olympic freestyle wrestler and the first Olympic champion from South Korea. He received a gold medal in the featherweight div ...

at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

prompted the South Korean government to consider opening a government-funded sports school. At that time, sports was still semi-professional and had little oversight by any centralized governing body while student athletics were primarily dominated by Korea University and

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the " SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in th ...

, both of which are private universities. In December 1977, the South Korean government announced plans to open the Korean National College of Physical Education under the Presidential Decree (No. 8322). Rather than begin as a 2-year junior college and gradually expand, as was the case with many universities, the college was founded as a 4-year degree-granting institution. Its first students were admitted the following March for the 1978–79 academic year. The campus was then located in

Nowon-gu Gyonggi do District (Nowon-gu) is a residential district of Seoul, South Korea, located in the most northeastern part of the metropolitan city. It has the highest population density in Seoul, with 619,509 people living in the area of 35.44 k ...

on the outskirts of Seoul and only offered a major in physical education. The 1980s to 1990s saw rapid expansion in its course offerings as coaching, community sports, sports and leisure studies, health management, sports safety management, taekwondo and sports media were added. Graduate programs and evening classes for working students were added. The lack of space in Nowon-gu and construction of facilities for the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Songpa-gu led to the decision to relocate the college to its present-day campus. It gained university status in 1993. The evening classes for working students were phased out by the 2000s in favor of other options, such as online learning, short certificate courses and part-time studies.

Academics

The university is organized into two colleges and a division. Its graduate school is organized into three interdisciplinary schools which only oversee master's and doctorate degree programs. *College of Sports Science **Department of Physical Education *College of Lifetime Sport **Department of Community Sport **Department of Youth Guidance and Sports Education **Department of Dance **Department of

Adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

Physical Education **Department of Taekwondo **Department of Sports and Leisure Studies **Department of Health and Exercise Science **Department of Sport and Healthy Aging *Division of Liberal Arts and Science

Research

Since 2019, KNSU has been a partner institution of Yonsei Institute of Sports Science & Exercise Medicine (YISSEM). The research institute specializes in sports medicine, pooling its resources from the well-established physical education programs of both universities and Yonsei's College of Medicine and

Severance Hospital Severance Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun District, South Korea. It is one of the oldest and biggest university hospitals in South Korea. It has 2,437 beds and treats approximately 2,500,000 outpatients and 8 ...

system. YISSEM was chosen by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

as a partner research center specializing in athlete health and injury prevention.

Admissions

As a designated national university, tuition fees are low for domestic students. Due to the stipulations of its founding decree, undergraduate students majoring in

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

and sports guidance have different criteria from other national universities and receive a full tuition waiver and fully-subsidized room and board, with the requirement that they reside in the dormitories throughout the duration of their studies.

Notable alumni

* Viktor An (Ahn Hyun-soo), short-track speed skater and coach, former world record holder in the 3000m event and multiple-times medalist at the Olympics and World Championships * Go Woo-ri, singer (

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

) *

Im Sung-jae Im Sung-jae ( ko, 임성재; born 30 March 1998), also known as Sungjae Im, is a South Korean professional golfer. Im won twice and was Player of the Year on the 2018 Web.com Tour. He was Rookie of the Year for the 2018–19 PGA Tour, and got h ...

, professional golfer, 2018-19

PGA Tour Rookie of the Year The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

* Kim Jung-hwan,

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

fencer and three-time Olympic medalist *

Soo Yeon Lee Soo Yeon Lee (born May 22, 1984) is a South Korean former table tennis player, model, actress and coach. Lee started playing table tennis at a very early age and was also trained extensively in the sport by an Olympic gold medalist Hyun Jung-hwa ...

, table tennis player, coach, and model * Lim Hyo-jun, short-track gold medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics * Park Sang-young,

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...

gold medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics *

Shim Suk-hee Shim Suk-hee (Hangul: 심석희; ; born 30 January 1997) is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a two-time Olympic Champion (2014, 2018) and a World Champion (2014). Early life At the age of 6, Shim started short track speed skati ...

, short-track gold medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics *

Won Jeong-sik Won Jeong-sik (, born 9 December 1990) is a South Korean weightlifter, Olympian,Jeon ...

, weightlifting gold medalist at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships * Won Woo-young, sabre fencer and Olympic gold medalist * Yang Hak-seon, former gymnast and gold medalist in the vault at the Olympics and World Championships *

Yun Sung-bin Yun Sung-Bin (Hangul: 윤성빈; born 23 May 1994) is a South Korean skeleton racer. He won the gold medal in men's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and was a participant at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Early life a ...

, skeleton gold medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

References

External links

Official website (in Korean)Official website (in English)
{{authority control Universities and colleges in Seoul Songpa District Sports universities and colleges 1972 establishments in South Korea Educational institutions established in 1972