Gu Bon-gil (, or ; born 27 April 1989) is a South Korean right-handed

sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

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 three-time team Olympic champion.

Early life

A native of

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

, Gu had played football all through elementary and middle school and went on to , 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 The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

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 and wate ...

. 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 Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

. Gu won two individual gold medals at the

2010–11 Fencing World Cup The 40th FIE Fencing World Cup began in October 2010 and concluded in August 2011 at the 2011 World Fencing Championships held in Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area ...

and ended the competition ranked number 3 overall. He was selected to participate in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

along with Oh, Kim Jung-hwan and

Won Woo-young Won Woo-young (; ; born 3 February 1982) is a South Korean sabre fencer. He won gold at the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games and Asian Championships and is the first Asian fencer to win gold in the men's individual sabre event at the ...

. 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

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 Kallang ( ) is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential zone located in th ...

. Oh Eun-seok and Won Woo-young both retired and were replaced by youngsters Oh Sang-uk and Kim Jun-ho. There was no men's team sabre event at

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

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 2017 World Fencing Championships was held at the Arena Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany from 19 to 26 July 2017. During the championships there was a demonstration of wheelchair fencing. Russian Ksenia Ovsyannikova was Head of the Promotion Co ...

, the country's first team gold at the worlds since 2005, and swept team gold at the 2018 World Championships and

. 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, 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 officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, 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 the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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 the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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. A five-time Olympian, Szilágyi is a three-time individual Olympic champion, 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist, and 2024 team Olympic silver medalist. Szilág ...

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 a Private university, private research university established in 1946 in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It has historic significance, as it was founded during by the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and is ...

. He married flight attendant Park Eun-ju in 2019. In November 2022, Gu announced his wife's pregnancy through a television program. His wife gave birth to a son on 6 March 2023. Despite sharing the same family name and ''

bon-gwan Korean clans are groups of Koreans, Korean people that share the same Patrilineality, paternal ancestor. They are indicated by the combination of a ''bongwan'' () and a family name. Korean clans distinguish clans that happen to share the same fam ...

'' ( 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 Television shows References External links * * * 1973 births Living people Male actors from Seoul People from Gang ...

or the Koo ''

chaebol A chaebol ( , ; , ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group. Several dozen large South Kore ...

'' family associated with

LG Corporation LG Corporation (or LG Group), formerly known as Lucky-Goldstar, is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi in 1947 and managed by successive generations of his family. It is the fourth-largest company in South Korea ...

. He and Gu Bon-seung indicated through comments left on one another's official

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

accounts that they were well aware of the rumors, quipping that it was "an honor" to be mistaken as relatives.

Notes

References

External links