The year he turned 19, he competed in the 55 kg class in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Busan Asian Games but did not place.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 21, he beat Cuba’s Monzón in the final of Greco-Roman 60 kg at the Athens Olympics and won gold. Dong-A Ilbo called the gold the biggest upset in wrestling at the Athens Olympics, and the final drew a combined rating of 38.1% across the three broadcasters.
In 2006, he missed the team for the Doha Asian Games. In 2007, he won bronze in the 60 kg class at the World Championships and earned a place at the Beijing Olympics. In 2008, he lost 1-2 to a wrestler from Kazakhstan in the Beijing Olympics quarterfinals and missed out on back-to-back titles. In 2009, he married.
In 2010, he won bronze at the World Championships and silver at the Guangzhou Asian Games. In 2012, he went out in the London Olympics quarterfinals, his third Olympics. The year he turned 31, he moved up to 71 kg and won gold at the Incheon Asian Games. Newsis says he retired as a competitor after this event.
In 2016, he appeared in the wrestling episode of KBS’s Cool Kiz on the Block. Around 2017, he took part in national team training as a coach of the national wrestling team, and the next year he was with the team as a coach at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. In 2022, he faced Shim Kwon-ho on MBN’s Gukdaeneun Gukdaeda.
In October 2023, he won gold in the 70 kg class at the Veterans World Championships, and at the end of the year he opened a wrestling gym near Gangnam Station in Seoul.
In 2024, he appeared in Netflix’s Physical: 100 season 2, SBS’s Same Bed, Different Dreams 2 and TV Chosun’s Saengjonwang: Bujokjeonjaeng. In 2025, he was appointed ambassador for the Korea Armed Forces Honor Association and signed with Line Entertainment in December.
In July 2026, he became full-time coach of the Korea Wrestling Federation’s men’s Greco-Roman Future National Team.
Jung Ji-hyun (born Mar 26, 1983) competed at the Busan Asian Games in 2002, the year he turned 19, and became known on Aug 27, 2004, the year he turned 21, when he won gold in Greco-Roman 60 kg at the Athens Olympics. He won Asian Games gold at Incheon in 2014, the year he turned 31.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.