In 2006, the year he turned 18, he won the Asian Junior Wrestling Championships while at Gangwon High School, and that September he finished as runner-up at the World Junior Championships. In 2008, he lost the final of the first Beijing Olympics national team trial.
In 2010, he made the national team for the first time and won the Asian Wrestling Championships. In 2011, he won gold at the London Pre-Olympic event.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 24, he won Olympic gold in the Greco-Roman 66 kg final in London with his right eye badly swollen. It was Korean wrestling’s first Olympic gold in eight years.
In 2013, after moving up to 74 kg, he won the Asian Championships and then the World Championships. In 2014, he was the Korean team’s flag bearer at the Incheon Asian Games and won gold in the Greco-Roman 75 kg class, completing the third grand slam in Korean wrestling history.
In 2015, he won the Asian Championships in the 75 kg class. In 2016, he lost in the round of 16 at the Rio Olympics amid controversy over the call, then won bronze through the repechage.
In 2017, he carried the torch in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics relay. In 2018, he lost in the first round at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, then won bronze through the repechage. In 2019, he won the Asian Championships in the 77 kg class and also took gold at an Italy Ranking Series event.
In 2020, the Tokyo Olympics were pushed back a year. In 2021, a positive COVID-19 test kept him out of an Olympic qualifying tournament, ending his Tokyo bid. In 2022, he married.
In 2023, he competed at the Hangzhou Asian Games with a rib injury that had not fully healed and lost the bronze medal match, and that December he retired from the national team. In 2024, he received the Cheongnyong Medal of Sport Merit. In 2025, he won a national inter-city and province championship for Bucheon City Hall. In 2026, he was named a coach of the Korea Wrestling Federation’s future national team.
Kim Hyeon-woo (born Nov 6, 1988) debuted on Jul 20, 2006, the year he turned 18, by winning the Asian Junior Wrestling Championships, and became known on Aug 8, 2012, the year he turned 24, when he won Olympic gold in the Greco-Roman 66 kg class in London with his eye badly swollen. In 2014, the year he turned 26, he also won the Incheon Asian Games, completing the third grand slam in Korean wrestling history.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.