In 1987, in his third year of middle school, he won the freestyle title at the National Junior Sports Festival. It was Gyeonggi Province’s first gold medal in wrestling at the festival. At the end of 1992 he gave up freestyle and switched to Greco-Roman. The year he turned 21, he joined the national team and won bronze at the World Championships.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 22, he won the Greco-Roman 48 kg title at the Hiroshima Asian Games and gave the Korean delegation its first gold medal. Asia Economy and Bravo My Life write that he became known through this gold medal.
In 1995 he won the 48 kg title at the World Championships in Prague. The year he turned 24, he beat Aleksandr Pavlov 4-0 in the Atlanta Olympics 48 kg final after extra time. It was the 100th medal Korea had won at the Olympics.
In 1998 he moved up to 54 kg and won both the World Championships and the Bangkok Asian Games. In 1999 he won the 54 kg Asian Championships title in Tashkent. In 2000 he beat Lázaro Rivas 8-0 in the Sydney Olympics 54 kg final, completing a grand slam in two weight classes and winning two straight Olympic titles, and then retired from competition.
In 2004 he aimed for a third straight Olympic title, but his place at the Athens Olympics fell through. In 2005, Hankyoreh introduced him as a commentator who was a former athlete. In 2008 his name was added to the Hall of Fame of the Beijing Olympics official site, and he commentated the Olympics wrestling for SBS. In 2014 he became the first Korean inducted into the Hall of Fame of the international wrestling federation.
In 2019 he appeared on JTBC’s The Gentlemen’s League. In 2020 he appeared on E Channel’s Jjin Eoreun Miting: Sarangui Jaegaebal. In 2022 he appeared on Star Documentary My Way and on Gukdaeneun Gukdaeda, where he faced Jung Ji-hyun. In 2023 he became manager of the under-17 wrestling national team.
In December 2025 he appeared on Joseonui Sarangkkun. In September 2026 he was named ambassador of the Goseong Dinosaur World Expo.
Sim Kwon-ho (born 1972) joined the national team in 1993, the year he turned 21, and became known on Oct 5, 1994, the year he turned 22, when he won Greco-Roman 48 kg gold at the Hiroshima Asian Games. He won Olympic gold in Atlanta the year he turned 24 and in Sydney the year he turned 28.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
Won the title at the Busan festival in his third year of middle school. It was Gyeonggi Province’s first gold medal in wrestling at the festival.
Source 01 · Sports Chosun (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho’s unforgettable moments · opens in a new tab The date of the tournament is not confirmed.Left the freestyle he had wrestled since his first year of middle school and chose Greco-Roman.
Source 02 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Olympic topics, the road to Sim Kwon-ho’s gold · opens in a new tab The article says only the end of 1992, so the month is not confirmed.Won bronze at the World Championships in Sweden in the year he began his national team career. He lost to Zafar Guliev of Russia on the way to the final.
Source 02 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Olympic topics, the road to Sim Kwon-ho’s gold · opens in a new tabSource 03 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho wins 48 kg gold at the wrestling World Championships · opens in a new tabSource 08 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Olympic notes, Sim Kwon-ho’s gold is Korea’s 100th Olympic medal · opens in a new tab The date of the tournament is not confirmed.Beat Reza Simkhah of Iran 7-0 in the final and gave the Korean delegation its first gold medal. Asia Economy and Bravo My Life write that he became known through this gold medal.
Beat a Japanese wrestler 6-0 in the final. It was his first World Championships gold medal.
Source 03 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho wins 48 kg gold at the wrestling World Championships · opens in a new tabBeat Aleksandr Pavlov 4-0 in the final after extra time. It was the Korean delegation’s first gold medal of the Games and the 100th medal Korea had won at the Olympics.
Source 07 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Olympics final roundup, first gold for Korea · opens in a new tabSource 08 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Olympic notes, Sim Kwon-ho’s gold is Korea’s 100th Olympic medal · opens in a new tab The final was on July 21 local time and July 22 in Korea. Ages are calculated by the local year.Received a prize of 100 million won at the award ceremony at the Shilla Hotel.
Source 09 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Sports briefs, wrestling federation gives 100 million won for Olympic gold · opens in a new tabMoved up to 54 kg after the 48 kg class was dropped. He became the first Korean wrestler to win World Championships titles in two weight classes.
Source 10 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Profile, Sim Kwon-ho wins World Championships in two weight classes · opens in a new tab The date of the final is not confirmed; the Aug. 30 article is the basis.Faced a North Korean wrestler in the final and won his second straight Asian Games gold.
Source 11 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Interview with Sim Kwon-ho, two-time Asian Games champion · opens in a new tab The date of the final is not confirmed; the Dec. 13 interview is the basis.Won the final 3-2 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. After the 1998 World Championships and the Bangkok Asian Games, he also won the Asian Championships in the 54 kg class.
Source 21 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Asian wrestling, Sim Kwon-ho wins at 54 kg · opens in a new tab The final was in the early hours of May 31 Korean time; the date is by Korean time.Beat Lázaro Rivas of Cuba 8-0 in the final. He had won the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games and Asian Championships in both the 48 kg and 54 kg classes, and became the first Korean wrestler to win two straight Olympic titles. According to Bravo My Life, he retired after this Games and later worked as a coach, a manager and a commentator.
Source 12 · Korea Economic Daily (Korean) · Sydney 2000, Sim Kwon-ho’s grand slam in two weight classes · opens in a new tabSource 13 · Kukmin Ilbo (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho’s dream of a third straight Olympic title ends · opens in a new tabSource 06 · Bravo My Life (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho, not an old bachelor but a small giant · opens in a new tab The date of his retirement is not confirmed.After retiring, he trained from May 2003 to go for a third straight Olympic title, but the board of the Korea Wrestling Federation decided to send another wrestler in his weight class.
Source 13 · Kukmin Ilbo (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho’s dream of a third straight Olympic title ends · opens in a new tabHankyoreh named Sim Kwon-ho among the former athletes carrying on the trend of athletes turned commentators.
Source 14 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · Commentary shake-up, former athletes become stars · opens in a new tab The article does not say when he started commentating, so the date is the publication date.His name was one of four Korean athletes, including Kim Soo-nyung, listed in the Hall of Fame of the official Olympic site run by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).
Source 23 · Kukmin Ilbo (Korean) · Four Korean athletes enter the Olympic site Hall of Fame · opens in a new tabSource 05 · Asia Economy (Korean) · Why Sim Kwon-ho left The Gentlemen’s League · opens in a new tabAs an SBS wrestling commentator, called Jung Ji-hyun’s Greco-Roman 60 kg match at the Beijing Olympics.
Source 24 · Sports Chosun (Korean) · People met in Beijing, wrestling commentator Sim Kwon-ho · opens in a new tabWas among the 16 inductees of 2014 into the Hall of Fame run by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), the first Korean to be listed.
Source 25 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho becomes first Korean inducted into the wrestling Hall of Fame · opens in a new tabSource 15 · MSPlus News (Korean) · Interview with Sim Kwon-ho · opens in a new tab The date is the publication date.Appeared on JTBC’s The Gentlemen’s League, in which sports legends form an amateur football team. The program first aired on June 13.
Source 26 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · The Gentlemen’s League, sports legends’ amateur football · opens in a new tabAppeared in the episode aired on Sept. 3. In the previous week’s episode he had talked about his last relationship and his pension.
Source 16 · Sports Seoul (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho on Jjin Eoreun Miting: Sarangui Jaegaebal · opens in a new tabShared how he has been doing since retiring.
Source 17 · Newsen (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho on Star Documentary My Way · opens in a new tabCompeted against Jung Ji-hyun, the Athens Olympics gold medalist. According to OhmyNews, it was the first time on the program that two retired legends faced each other.
Source 18 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho’s last smile · opens in a new tabYonhap News Agency reported that he would lead the under-17 (U-17) team to the United World Wrestling U-17 Asian Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Source 22 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Wrestling legend Sim Kwon-ho returns to the field to lead a youth national team · opens in a new tab The date is the publication date.Appeared as the lead of the “second project to get a man of the Cheongsong Sim clan married.”
Source 19 · TV Report (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho on Joseonui Sarangkkun · opens in a new tabThe Gyeongnam Goseong-gun Culture and Tourism Foundation presented him with the certificate naming him ambassador of the 2026 Gyeongnam Goseong Dinosaur World Expo at the Expo theme hall in Danghangpo Tourist Resort.
Source 20 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Sim Kwon-ho named ambassador of the Goseong Dinosaur World Expo · opens in a new tab The appointment was announced on Sept. 3.END OF SELECTED RECORDSSelected records, 1987–2026 · not a complete list of work. “Key moment” is an editorial label, not a measure of success.
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Sports · South Korea
1972 —
Ages are counted from the birth year 1972: the year of the event minus 1972, birthdays aside. “Key moment” labels and the connecting story are AgeTrail's editorial reading.
Fact-checked: 2026.10.06 · An independent archive, not affiliated with the person or their agency.