Kwon Young-woo (also ''Kwon Yeong-u'', ko, 권 영우; born May 4, 1981, in

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 ...

) is a South Korean

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, who competed in the men's middleweight category. He captured two golds in the 81-kg division at the Summer Universiade (2001 and 2003), completed a full set of medals at the Asian Judo Championships, and later finished seventh at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Kwon emerged as a frontrunner and a medal contender at the

2001 Summer Universiade The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, between 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6,757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 sports ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, where he took home the gold in the 81-kg class against Azerbaijan's Mehman Azizov. Two years later, Kwon defeated Spain's Óscar Fernández for an unprecedented second straight gold in his respective division. Kwon qualified for the South Korean squad in the men's half-middleweight class (81 kg) at the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, by placing third and receiving a berth from the Asian Championships in

Almaty, Kazakhstan Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...

. He thwarted France's Cédric Claverie and Cuba's

Gabriel Arteaga Gabriel Israel Arteaga Risquet (born October 12, 1976) is a male judoka from Cuba, who won a gold and a silver medal in the men's half middleweight division (– 81 kg) at the Pan American Games (1999 and 2003). He represented his nat ...

in the prelims by a

waza-ari is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon'' or ''waza-ari'' contest, usually judo, karate or jujutsu. ''Waza-ari'' in judo A ''waza-ari'' is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in judo, the ...

and a yuko score, before being sanctioned with a penalty and falling short to Greek judoka and eventual Olympic champion

Ilias Iliadis Ilias Iliadis ( el, Ηλίας Ηλιάδης, born Jarji Zviadauri, ka, ჯარჯი ზვიადაური, on 10 November 1986) is a Georgian-born Greek judoka. He was named the 2014 Greek Male Athlete of the Year. He won a gold me ...

in a sudden-death quarterfinal match. In the repechage round, Kwon ran off from his temporary falter with an effortless victory over Australia's Morgan Endicott-Davies, but fell short in a tremendous ippon to Brazilian judoka

Flávio Canto Flávio Vianna de Ulhôa Canto (born April 16, 1975 in Oxford, England) is a Brazilian judoka who competed in Men's 81 kg Judo. He won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He is founder and president of the Instituto Reação, and ...

within twenty-seven seconds, ending him in the seventh spot.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwon, Young-woo 1981 births Living people Olympic judoka for South Korea Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2006 Asian Games Sportspeople from Seoul South Korean male judoka Universiade medalists in judo FISU World University Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games competitors for South Korea 21st-century South Korean people