The year he turned 28, he won first place at the Mr. and Ms. Korea selection contest in Daegu and was chosen for the national team. That July he competed for Korea in the -65 kg class at the Asian Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships in Mongolia. In 2012, he won silver in the -168 cm class at the World Championships in Bulgaria. Korea won the overall title for the first time in 29 years since first entering in 1983.
In 2013, he won silver again at the World Championships in Austria, a second year in a row. In November 2014, he won bronze in classic bodybuilding at the Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand. That December, at the World Championships in Alicante, Spain, he won his first individual gold on his third attempt.
In 2015, he won the same championship for a second straight title. His silver was corrected to gold after the first-place finisher was disqualified for refusing a doping test. In 2016, he won silver in both events at the same championship, but the next year the winner was caught doping and his medals were upgraded to gold, giving him a third straight title.
In 2018, he won again at the World Championships in Alicante, Spain. In February 2019, he received the Encouragement Prize at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee Sports Awards. That November he won gold at the World Championships in the United Arab Emirates for a second year in a row.
In 2020, he was named among six fitness YouTubers chosen by Insight, with 55,000 subscribers. From 2021, he began teaching the course Practical Bodybuilding as a visiting professor at Korea Nazarene University in South Chungcheong. That November he won two events and the overall title at the World Championships.
In October 2022, he won the 70 kg bodybuilding class at the National Sports Festival for a second straight time. The same month he received the Cheongnyong Medal, the highest class of the Order of Sports Merit, from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. He was the first bodybuilder to receive it. In November he won silver at the World Championships in Spain.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 40, in January, he appeared on Netflix’s Physical: 100 and beat Agent H in a one-on-one death match. The show reached the Netflix top 10 in 33 countries including Korea. In October he won at the National Sports Festival, and in November he won gold in the -70 kg class and two silvers at the World Championships. Korea finished second overall, its best result ever.
In December 2024, he received the sports grand prize in bodybuilding at the Daehan Sports Culture and Arts Awards. In 2025, he took part in the DMZ Peace Marathon event.
Seol Ki-kwan (born 1983) debuted as a national team bodybuilder in 2011, the year he turned 28, by winning the Mr. and Ms. Korea selection contest, and became widely known when he appeared on Netflix’s Physical: 100 on Jan 24, 2023, the year he turned 40. In 2022, the year he turned 39, he became the first bodybuilder to receive the Cheongnyong Medal of the Order of Sports Merit.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.