Untitled Document
 Park
Tae-hwan is the most famous swimmer in Korea.
He is a member of the South Korean national swimming team. Park
is one of Asia’s top men’s freestyle swimmers. Recently, the 19-year-old
boy won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle and a silver in the
200-meter freestyle events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Surprisingly, Park is the
first Asian swimmer to win a gold medal in a men’s
400-meter freestyle event! Also, he is the first Korean to win a medal
in swimming!
Park Tae-hwan was born on September 27, 1989 in Seoul. When he was
a little boy, he suffered from asthma. His doctor suggested swimming would
be good for his asthma. So Park began swimming at the age of 5. He
began his competitive swimming career
at the age of 7, earning several medals in
junior competitions. In 2003, he
became a national team member.
Park continued his success in the following
years. In 2006, he was voted MVP (Most Valuable Player) at the Asian
Games in Qatar, where he won seven medals. He won three gold, one
silver and three bronze medals -- the most
medals won by a single athlete at the Games! He
also set two Asian records. For his success, Park was named an “Athlete
of the Games.”
 At the 2006
Pan Pacific Swimming Championship, which took place in Canada, Park
broke the Korean record which he held in the men’s 200-meter freestyle,
finishing in second place. His time was 1:47:51. He was just 1.31
seconds behind the winner, American Klete Keller.
He was voted “Swimming World’s Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year.”
In February, 2008, he graduated from Kyunggi High School and enrolled at Dankook University.
Now, he is majoring in physical education. In February
of 2008, he joined the Korean national team training base to prepare for the 2008 Beijing
Olympics.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the 400-meter
freestyle event and a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle event.
These were the first Olympic medals in swimming for South Korea! In
the last couple of years, Park Tae-hwan has been rewriting Korea’s
history of swimming. |
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