Lee Jung-su (; ; born November 30, 1989) is a South Korean

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

. He is a two-time Olympic Champion from

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

. Lee won one distances and became second overall at the 2008 World Junior Championships in

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

. He won 2009-2010 Overall World Cup. At the

2010 Olympic Winter Games )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Lee won two gold medal in the 1000m and 1500m events.

Early life and education

Lee was born in 1989 as the 25th generation of the Injegong branch in the Hansan Lee clan. Lee's father, Lee Do-won is a department manager at the

Kyunghyang Sinmun The ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' or ''Kyonghyang Sinmun'' is a major daily newspaper published in South Korea. It is based in Seoul. The name literally means ''Urbi et Orbi Daily News''.

newspaper. Lee's family members are devoted

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. Lee started skating as a hobby in 2002 when he was in fourth grade at Seongok Elementary School. The school in the neighborhood of

Wolgye-dong Wolgye-dong is a '' dong'', neighbourhood of Nowon-gu in Seoul, South Korea. See also *Administrative divisions of South Korea South Korea is made up of 17 first-tier administrative divisions: 6 metropolitan cities (''gwangyeoksi'' ), 1 ...

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 ...

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 located next to the

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

Kwangwoon University Kwangwoon University (Abbreviated to Kwangwoon, KW and KWU) is a comprehensive, coeducational and private research university in Seoul (Wolgye Dong, Nowon-gu), South Korea, offering undergraduate and graduate programs (Master and Doctor). Chosu ...

. Lee's older sister, Lee Hwa-yeong was a

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

regarded as a rising rookie, who won an elementary competition at the

Korean National Sports Festival The Korean National Sports Festival is an annual sports competition held in South Korea. For a full week each October, about 20,000 athletes representing 16 cities and provinces throughout the country compete in about 40 separate sports. The sit ...

when she was in 6th grade. During the time, Lee's coach recommended Lee to be a professional skater. As Lee's school established a skating team, Lee joined it. Two years later, he switched from

long track speed skating 　 Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, ...

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

. On the other hand, Lee's parents had financial difficulties in supporting their children's dream. They had to spend over 2,000,000 won (approximately US$1,736) per month for the fees of skating lessons, purchasing skating tools and renting exercising locations. Although Lee's parents worked together, spent all savings and even sold

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s in a countryside to support their children, that was not enough to cover all. They finally had to loan mortgages on their house where the family was living. However, Lee's sister eventually gave up due to the financial situation and tried to seek her future in other sport genres that cost less money for training such as

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

and

wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboardin ...

. The fact that his sister had to drop her dream has stimulated Lee Jung-Su to focus on the skating training. Lee graduated from Gwangmun High School, and

Dankook University Dankook University (commonly referred to as Dankook), abbreviated as DU or DKU, is a prestigious private research university in Yongin and Cheonan, South Korea. The university was established in 1947. It was the first university established after ...

Career

Lee joined the South Korean national team in 2008. Lee won the short track World Cup in the 2009-2010 season, and got gold in the 1000m and 1500m at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and another silver in the 5000m relay. Lee has been handed a 3-year ban along with his teammate Kwak Yoon-Gy for controversial foulplay. Lee had written a note stating that he was not fit to compete in the World Championships 2010 Sofia, because of an injury. This turned out to be not true, and Lee admitted that his coach forced him to pull out so that he could give teammate Kwak Yoon-Gy a chance to win a medal. Kwak Yoon-gy went on to win Gold in the 1500m. On May 19, 2010, the Korea Skating Union and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee reduced the ban on Lee Jung-soo and Kwak Yoon-gy from three years to one year. Through an appeal, it was reduced to six months again on July 20, 2010. But Kwak's coach Jeon Jae-Mok was given a life ban. and 2010 Vancouver Olympic head coach

Kim Ki-hoon Kim Ki-hoon (born July 14, 1967) is a retired short-track speed skater and the first gold medalist in the Winter Olympics for South Korea. Kim is a three-time Olympic Champion and 1992 Overall World Champion. Career Kim first garnered atten ...

, who participated in the match-fixing, was suspended for three years, and coaches

Song Jae-kun Song Jae-Kun (Hangul: 송재근, Hanja: 宋在根) (born 15 February 1974) is a South Korean short track speed skater, who won a gold medal in the 5000 m relay at the 1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 ...

and Choi Kwang-bok were also suspended for one year. Lee joined the national team again in the 2011-2012 season and won the bronze medal in the 5000m relay at the World Championships. At the 2017 Sapporo Asian Games, he won the bronze medal in the 1500m and the silver medal in the 5000m relay. Lee served as a KBS commentator at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Switching disclplines

After failing to gain selection for the Korean short track team ahead of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, he switched to speed skating in an attempt to qualify for the event. He did not finish high enough at the Olympic trials, and in April 2014 he announced he would be returning to short track. He made the same switch in August 2017 to try and gain selection for the national speed skating team ahead of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. His focus was specifically the mass start event

Career highlights

;ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships :2008 –

, 2nd overall classification ::1st at 500m ;Winter Olympic Games :2010 –

, Gold at 1000m and 1500m

References

External links

*
2008 ISU World Junior Championships, Italy
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jung-su 1989 births Living people South Korean male short track speed skaters Olympic short track speed skaters for South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic silver medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in short track speed skating Short track speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in short track speed skating Short track speed skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2017 Asian Winter Games Speed skaters from Seoul Dankook University alumni