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

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as 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 contains a ...

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 bet ...

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 , 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

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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 Kweon Young-jun (; born March 29, 1987) is a South Korean right-handed épée fencer and 2021 team Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Oly ...

and

Jung Jin-sun Jung Jin-Sun (; or ; born 24 January 1984) is a South Korean right-handed épée fencer, four-time team Asian champion, four-time individual Asian champion, three-time Olympian, and 2012 individual Olympic bronze medalist. Career Jung took ...

. 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 A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the 2014 Asian Fencing Championships in

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

and at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

, 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
{{Worl ...

. 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

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in the table of 16 at the March Grand Prix in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

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. 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 and wate ...

and the

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. He returned to competition a year later, winning a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

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, his close friend.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Sang-young 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Jinju South Korean male épée fencers Korea National Sport University alumni Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for 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 21st-century South Korean sportsmen