Gu Bon-gil ( or ; born 27 April 1989) is a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n right-handed

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

fencer. Gu is an eight-time team Asian champion, seven-time individual Asian champion, and three-time team world champion. A three-time Olympian, Gu is a two-time team Olympic champion.

Early life

A native of Daegu, Gu had played football all through elementary and middle school and went on to Osung High School, which was the alma mater of his 2012 Olympics teammate Oh Eun-seok. The fencing coach at Osung High School had already noticed him in middle school and persuaded him to switch sports. He majored in physical education at Dong-Eui University, then one of the few universities which had a fencing team. Gu was already selected for the youth national teams as a high school student and participated in the 2006 Cadet (Under 17) World Championships. He won individual gold at the Junior (Under 20) World Championships and Junior Asian Championships in 2008.

Career

Gu was first selected for the senior national team in 2010. He made headlines that year by winning two silver medals in the Grand Prix circuit and individual gold medals at both the Asian Games and

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 ...

. The media dubbed him the "scary rookie" after he narrowly defeated compatriot Oh Eun-seok, then world number 2, in the semi-finals of the Asian Games. His gold medal at the Asian Games meant that he was exempted from mandatory military service. Gu won two individual gold medals at the 2010–11 Fencing World Cup and ended the competition ranked number 3 overall. He was selected to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics along with Oh, Kim Jung-hwan and Won Woo-young. The Olympics began on a sour note as he, Kim and Won did not make it past the semi-final stage of the individual event. They managed to win a historic gold in the team event, South Korea's first ever Olympic gold medal in the men's team sabre category. The quartet continued to dominate in the team events, sweeping gold at both the

and Asian Games hosted at home and winning silver at 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, ...

. They also successfully defended their team gold medal at the

2015 Asian Fencing Championships The 2015 Asian Fencing Championships were held in Singapore from 25 to 30 July 2015 at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Results Men Individual épée Team épée Individual foil Team foil I ...

. Oh Eun-seok and Won Woo-young both retired and were replaced by youngsters

Oh Sang-uk Oh Sang-uk (born 30 September 1996) is a South Korean right-handed sabre fencer. Oh is a four-time team Asian champion, 2019 individual Asian champion, three-time team world champion, and 2019 individual world champion. Competing at his firs ...

and Kim Jun-ho. There was no men's team sabre event at 2016 Summer Olympics due to the now-abolished rotation policy. Gu and Kim Jung-hwan both qualified for the individual event. However, he was narrowly defeated by Mojtaba Abedini, whom Kim went on to defeat in the bronze medal bout. The following year, the team won gold in the men's team sabre event at the 2017 World Fencing Championships, the country's first team gold at the worlds since 2005, and swept team gold at the 2018 World Championships and Asian Games. Gu himself won individual silver in the 2017 worlds and successfully defended his Asian Games gold the following year. Kim Jung-hwan announced his retirement after the 2018 Asian Games and was replaced by Ha Han-sol. The team won gold at the

2019 World Fencing Championships The 2019 World Fencing Championships was held from 15 to 23 July 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. Schedule Twelve events were held. ''All times are local (UTC+2).'' Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events References External l ...

, Gu's third consecutive team gold at the worlds. Kim came back out of retirement and reunited with the same team from the 2018 Asian Games and Asian Championships. They qualified for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, which had been postponed for a year. Despite the disruption caused by the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic and changes to coaching staff, they won team gold, making Gu and Kim the first South Korean fencers (among all fencing disciplines, male or female) to win back-to-back team gold medals at the Olympics. The 2021–22 World Cup season began uneventfully for Gu as he was not able to participate in the

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

the day before the competition. He returned to the team which won gold at both the Men's Team World Cup in January and the

to retain their #1 ranking in the team category. Gu himself finished that season on a high by winning gold at the

and medalling for the first time at a Grand Prix event since 2018, only losing to

Áron Szilágyi Áron Szilágyi (; born 14 January 1990) is a Hungarian right-handed sabre fencer. Szilágyi is a 2018 team European champion, 2015 individual European champion, 2007 team world champion, and 2022 individual world champion. A four-time Oly ...

in the Padua Grand Prix final by a single point.

Medal Record

Olympic Games

World Championship

Asian Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

Filmography

Television shows

Personal life

Gu earned his master's degree from

Kookmin University Kookmin University () is the first private university founded after the liberation of the Republic of Korea from Japan. The campus is located in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The KMU was established in 1946. Gu kim, Soang Jo and Ikhee Shin, who ...

. He married flight attendant Park Eun-ju in 2019. In November 2022, Gu announced his wife's pregnancy through a television program. Despite sharing the same family name and ''

bon-gwan Bon-gwan (or Bongwan) is the concept of clan in Korea, which is used to distinguish clans that happen to share the same family name (clan name). Since Korea has been traditionally a Confucian country, this clan system is similar to ancient Chinese ...

'' ( Gu clan of Neungseong), Gu is not an immediate relative of singer and actor

Gu Bon-seung Gu Bon-seung (born September 11, 1973) is a South Korean actor and singer. Filmography Film Television series References External links * * * 1973 births Living people South Korean male television actors South Korean male film a ...

or the Koo '' chaebol'' family associated with

LG Corporation LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is t ...

. He and Gu Bon-seung indicated through comments left on one another's official Instagram accounts that they were well aware of the rumors, quipping that it was "an honor" to be mistaken as relatives.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gu, Bon-gil Living people 1989 births Sportspeople from Daegu South Korean male sabre fencers Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers of South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2010 Asian Games 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 medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Universiade medalists in fencing Universiade silver medalists for South Korea Universiade bronze medalists for South Korea Fencers from Seoul South Korean Buddhists Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade Dong-Eui University alumni World Fencing Championships medalists