Lee Kang-seok (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 이강석,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 李康奭, born 28 February 1985) is a South Korean

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

. He is the 2007 and 2009 World Champion for 500 m. At the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

, he won a bronze medal in the 500 m. He is the second South Korean person to win a medal in an event outside of short track speedskating, and he has become a representative to show that South Korea is expanding towards cultivating their athletes to excel in sports other than short track speed skating. On 5 March 2006, Lee won his first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

title, winning the 2005–06 World Cup on the 500 m. A year later, Lee won gold at the

World Single Distance Championships The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union. History Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple ...

in the

Utah Olympic Oval The Utah Olympic Oval is an indoor speed skating oval located southwest of Salt Lake City, in Kearns, Utah. The Oval was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and it hosted the long track speed skating events for the 2002 games. Inside the facilit ...

, setting a world record time of 34.25 seconds in the second race. The record has been broken since then by

Jeremy Wotherspoon Jeremy Lee Wotherspoon (born October 26, 1976) is a Canadian speed skater, widely recognized as one of the greatest speedskating sprinters of all time. In December 2003, Wotherspoon became the most successful male skater in World Cup history whe ...

on 9 November 2007, with a time of 34.03 seconds. At the

2009 Winter Universiade The 2009 Winter Universiade, the XXIV Winter Universiade took place in Harbin, China. Student athletes from 44 countries took part in the games. Selection Harbin was selected by FISU on January 10, 2005 over future 2011 Winter Universiade host c ...

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Lee won the 500 m, beating

Yu Fengtong Yu Fengtong (; born 15 December 1984 in Yichun, Heilongjiang) is a speed skater who has participated in the Olympics for the nation of China. He is the national recordholder of China on the 500 meters. Achievements *World Sprint Speed ...

with times of 35.00 and 34.82.

Controversies

Lee had his South Korean driving license revoked for driving while intoxicated on 16 June 2012. He had a

blood alcohol content Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For exampl ...

of 0.12%.

World record

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

References

External links

*
Lee Kang-seok
at SpeedSkatingStats.com
Lee Kang-Seok
at SpeedskatingResults.com * * * * * 1985 births South Korean male speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters for South Korea Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic bronze medalists for South Korea World record setters in speed skating People from Uijeongbu Living people Asian Games medalists in speed skating Speed skaters at the 2007 Asian Winter Games Speed skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2007 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Universiade medalists in speed skating World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists FISU World University Games gold medalists for South Korea Universiade silver medalists for South Korea Universiade bronze medalists for South Korea Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade Speed skaters at the 2007 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2009 Winter Universiade South Korean Buddhists Sportspeople from Gyeonggi Province {{SouthKorea-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub