PARKJOO-BONG

In 1980, in his first year at Jeonju Agricultural and Forestry High School, he won the men’s singles at the national championships by category. Sports World writes that he later became the youngest national team member in Korean badminton at the time, while still in high school. In 1982 he won the Denmark Open men’s doubles with his senior Lee Eun-gu.

The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 21, he won the World Championships. Kyunghyang Shinmun counts his international titles as starting with this tournament, and Yonhap News Agency describes him as dominating the world doubles scene for ten years from 1983.

In 1986 he won the Seoul Asian Games mixed doubles with Chung Myung-hee. In 1989 he won the World Championships again. In 1990 he won the Beijing Asian Games mixed doubles for a second straight time. In 1991 he won his third World Championships title.

The year he turned 28, he won gold in men’s doubles at the Barcelona Olympics with Kim Moon-soo. It was the first Games at which badminton was an official Olympic sport. In 1993 he retired after leading the team to the World Mixed Team Championships title, then came back to the court. In 1996 he reached the Atlanta Olympics mixed doubles final with his pupil Ra Kyung-min and took silver, and he ended his playing career after this Games.

In 1997 he became a coach for the British national team. In 2001 he was inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame as the first Korean player. In 2004 he served as a coach for the Korean national team at the Athens Olympics, and in September he signed a head coach contract with the Japan Badminton Association.

In 2012, at the London Olympics, with Japan’s team under his lead, Japanese badminton won its first Olympic medal (silver in women’s doubles). In 2014 the Japan men’s team won the Thomas Cup for the first time. In 2016 the first Olympic gold medal for Japanese badminton came in women’s doubles at Rio.

In 2020 it was reported that he had agreed to extend his contract with the Japanese team to 2025. In 2022 Japan continued its run of an event title at five straight World Championships. In October 2024 the Japan Badminton Association announced that his term would end that December. It was a head coach post he had held for 20 years.

In 2025 he became head coach of the Korean badminton national team. In 2026 he led the team to 2 gold medals at the Asian Games as head coach, and was named a final candidate for the Korea Sports Hero.

Park Joo-bong (born 1964) made his debut in 1980, the year he turned 16, by winning the men’s singles at the national championships by category, and became known in 1985, the year he turned 21, by winning the World Championships. On Aug 4, 1992, the year he turned 28, he won gold in men’s doubles at the Barcelona Olympics.

Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.