Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, 26 September 2000, Games of the XXVII Olympiad: Kwon-Ho SIM of Korea celebrates after winning the -54kg greco-roman wrestling final. Credit: Getty Images/Al BelloOther names: SIM, Kwon Ho
Born: 12 October 1972
Birthplace: Sungham / Korea / South Korea
Nationality: Korea (South Korea)
Sport: Wrestling
ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Atlanta 1996
Sydney 2000
AWARDS
Olympic medals:
Gold: 2
Other results:
World Championships
Gold: 2 (95, 98)
Bronze: 1 (93)
Friends without borders
Greco-Roman wrestler Kwon-Ho Sim is the only Korean (South Korea) man to win two gold medals in the Summer Olympics. Competing in the 48-kilogram division, he earned a bronze medal at the 1993 world championships and then became world champion in 1995.
At the Atlanta Games in 1996, Sim won his first Olympic title by defeating Aleksandr Pavlov of Belarus in the final. Sim scored two points with a chest-high roll-through with 42 seconds left in regulation time and then added two more points with another roll in overtime to score a 4-0 victory. Between Olympics, Sim moved up to 54kg. In the semifinals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he defeated Kang Yong-Gyun of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) 10-0.
At the Opening Ceremony, the North and South Koreans had marched together. In this spirit, before the medal matches, Sim gave advice to Kang about the man he would be facing in the bronze-medal match-Andriy Kalashnikov of Ukraine, while Kang gave Sim a scouting report on Sim's opponent in the gold-medal match-Lázaro Rivas of Cuba. Both Koreans won, with Sim scoring early and often against Rivas and prevailing 8-0.
