Life
Takes up fencing at Oseong Middle School
Picked up a sword for the first time at a teacher’s suggestion.
Source 01 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Gu Bon-gil on top of the world · opens in a new tab The article gives no month or day.In 2003, at a teacher’s suggestion at Oseong Middle School, he picked up a sword for the first time. In 2006, he took first place in the men’s individual sabre event at the World Cadet Championships. The year he turned 19, he was selected for the national team.
In 2010, at his first Asian Games, in Guangzhou, he won individual sabre gold. In the team event he lost to China 44-45 for silver. In 2011, he reached the last four of the World Championships for the first time and took individual bronze.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 23, he won gold in the men’s team sabre at the London Olympics. It was Korean fencing’s first Olympic team gold. He lost in the round of 16 in the individual event.
In 2013, he won team bronze at the World Championships. In 2014, he won two golds at the Incheon Asian Games, a second straight individual title and the team title. In 2016, he entered the individual event at the Rio Olympics but lost in the round of 16. In 2017, he won the team title at the World Championships and completed the Grand Slam.
In 2018, he won a third straight individual title and the team title at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. In 2019, he helped win a third straight team title at the World Championships.
In 2021, he won his second Olympic gold in the men’s team sabre at Tokyo. In 2022, he won a fourth straight team title at the World Championships.
In 2023, a son was born. At the Hangzhou Asian Games he took silver in the individual event, and with the team title he won his sixth career Asian Games gold.
In 2024, he won gold in the men’s team sabre at the Paris Olympics for a third straight Olympic title in the event. That August he appeared on Same Bed, Different Dreams 2. In January 2025, he joined the Busan City Hall fencing team. In 2026, he retired from the national team, ending 18 years on the team since 2008.
Gu Bon-gil (born Apr 27, 1989) joined the national team in 2008, the year he turned 19, and became known on Aug 4, 2012, the year he turned 23, when he won gold in the men’s team sabre at the London Olympics. He won the same event at Tokyo (the year he turned 32) and Paris (the year he turned 35).
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.