Sung Si-Bak (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 성시백,

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 ...

: 成始柏, ; born February 18, 1987, 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 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

) 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 ...

. At the

2007 Winter Universiade The 2007 Winter Universiade, the XXIII Winter Universiade, took place in Turin, Italy from January 17 to 27, 2007. Opening ceremony The Opening Ceremony of the XXIII Winter Universiade Torino 2007 was held with a cast of acrobats, circus performe ...

, he won all five short track speed skating events. Sung has won more than 20 World Cup races and earned two World Cup titles, in addition to skating on the winning World Championship 5000 m relay teams in 2007 and 2008. He qualified for the

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 ...

Vancouver, British Columbia 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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Sung was in medal contention leading into the final lap of the

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

event there, when a crash between him and a teammate led to his finishing in 5th place.

Career

Sung began speedskating in elementary school at the behest of his parents, who hoped that it would help make him stronger. He nearly gave up the sport in order to continue his schooling, but chose to continue training as a professional speedskater. Sung's career in the short track speed skating world cup has been a successful one. In the 500 m, he took first place in the 2007/2008 season, second in the 2008/2009 season, and third in the 2009/2010 season. In the 1500 m, he was first in 2008/2009 and third in 2009/2010. In total, he has won more than 20 World Cup races. He has also seen some success in World Championships. In 2007 and 2008, he was a member of the world champion 5000 m relay teams. He and his South Korean teammates also won the World Team Championships in 2009, having earned third place the previous year and second in 2007. Sung was selected for the South Korean team at the

to compete in four events, the 500 m, the 1000 m, the

, and the 5000 m team relay. In the first of these events, the 1500 m, Sung was among the three leading skaters, all South Koreans, going into the final lap when he was taken out by his teammate

Lee Ho-Suk Lee Ho-suk ( ko, 이호석, Hanja: 李昊錫, ; born June 25, 1986) is a South Korean short track speedskater. He won a gold medal as a part of 5000 m short-track relay team and four silver medals in 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turin, Italy. H ...

who attempted to pass him and both collided and slid into the wall. The fall allowed

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

Apolo Anton Ohno Apolo Anton Ohno (; born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American at the Winter Olympics ...

and

J. R. Celski John Robert "J. R." Celski (, born July 17, 1990) is a retired American short track speed skater, three-time Olympic Games, Olympian, and three-time medalist in the Winter Olympics. Celski has held a total of five combined Short Track World and ...

to take silver and bronze.

was disqualified for causing the fall, and Sung who would have gotten silver, finished in 5th place. In the heat race for the 1000 m competition, he set an Olympic Record with a time of 1:24.245. However, disappointingly he didn't advance to the finals as he finished third in the semi-finals. During the pre-finals of 1000 m, he was disqualified from the event for bumping another skater. In the 500m Olympic Final, Sung was in the lead but slipped in the final corner before making contact with

Charles Hamelin Charles Hamelin (born April 14, 1984) is a Canadian retired short track speed skater. In a competitive career that spanned nearly twenty years on the international circuit, Hamelin participated in five Winter Olympic Games (2006, 2010, 2014, 2 ...

, and ended up crossing the finish line third. However, he was able to take the Silver medal due to a disqualification of

Apolo Ohno Apolo Anton Ohno (; born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American at the Winter Olympics ...

References

External links

Sung Si-Bak's biography on nbcolympics.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sung, Si-Bak 1987 births Living people South Korean male short track speed skaters Olympic short track speed skaters of 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 medalists in short track speed skating Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Short track speed skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Universiade medalists in short track speed skating Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade Universiade gold medalists for South Korea Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2007 Winter Universiade South Korean Buddhists 21st-century South Korean people

Career

See also

References

External links