Other 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.