Park Sang-young ( or ; born 16 October 1995) is a South Korean right-handed

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 ...

fencer, three-time team Asian champion, 2021 team

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

bronze medalist, and 2016 individual Olympic champion.

Early life

Park was introduced to fencing in middle school. He nearly had to give up the sport as his family could not afford the expensive equipment but financial aid from a non-profit charity and his admission into Gyeongnam Physical Education High School, a public school, allowed him to continue to fencing. During his first year in high school, he won first place in the individual épée category at the national high school championships.

Career

Park was junior world champion in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in 2012, becoming the first South Korean male junior fencer to win a medal in the épée event. He qualified for the senior national team in 2013 by winning the national championship, a rarity for a high school student as fencers generally competed at collegiate level before making the step up. Dubbed a "monster rookie", he made headlines by narrowly defeating veterans Kweon Young-jun and Jung Jin-sun. Park joined the senior category in the 2013–14 season, during which he won the 2014 Doha Grand Prix and the 2014 Berne Grand Prix. As part of the South Korean team he won a gold medal at the

2014 Asian Fencing Championships The 2014 Asian Fencing Championships were held in Suwon, South Korea from 2 to 7 July 2014 at the Suwon Gymnasium. Medal summary Men Women Medal table References Results {{Asian Fencing Championships Asian Championship An Asian Champio ...

in Suwon and at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, as well as a silver medal at the

2014 World Fencing Championships The 2014 World Fencing Championships were held in Kazan, Russia, from 15–23 July. Schedule The schedule of the competition. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References External links Official website {{World Fe ...

. He finished the season world no.3. The 2014–15 season proved more difficult for Park. He sustained a knee injury while fencing against Pavel Pitra of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in the table of 16 at the March Grand Prix in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. The injury prevented him from taking part in the 2015

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

and the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. He returned to competition a year later, winning a bronze medal in the Vancouver world cup in February 2016.

Medal Record

Olympic Games

World Championship

Asian Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

Personal life

Park is a graduate of

Korea National Sport University Korea National Sport University (KNSU) is a South Korean national university located in the neighborhood of Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. It is the only national sport university of South Korea and offers degrees from undergraduate to doctoral lev ...

. One of his contemporaries at university was pentathlete

Jun Woong-tae Jun Woong-tae (, born 1 August 1995) is a South Korean modern pentathlete. Sports career The athlete from Seoul was the first Korean player to win a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after a series of victories, including winning the UIPM Worl ...

, his close friend.

References

1995 births Living people People from Jinju South Korean male épée fencers Korea National Sport University alumni Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers of South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2014 Asian Games Fencers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games South Korean Buddhists Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for South Korea Sportspeople from South Gyeongsang Province {{SouthKorea-fencing-bio-stub