Park Taehwan

Infobox Swimmer
swimmername = Park Tae-hwan


imagesize =
caption =
fullname =Park Tae-hwan
nicknames = marine boy [ [http://www.sports.or.kr/starbang/news_list.jsp?star=200402002425 Marine Boy, will become the first Gold medalist?] ko icon, Korean Sports Council, Retrieved on August 4, 2008]
nationality = South Korea
strokes = freestyle
club =
collegeteam = Dankook University
birthdate = birth date and age|1989|9|27
birthplace = South Korea
deathdate =
deathplace =
height =
weight =
medaltemplates =Infobox Korean name
hangul= 박태환
hanja=
rr=Bak Tae-hwan
mr=Pak T'ae-hwan: "Not to be confused with Park Tae-hwan, the South Korean Olympic rower"

Park Tae-hwan (born September 27, 1989) is a South Korean swimmer. He is a member of the South Korean national swimming team, based in Taereung, Seoul. He won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle and a silver in the 200 meter freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is the first Asian swimmer to win a gold medal in Men's 400 metre freestyle event, and the first Korean to win a medal in swimming.

Personal Life

Born in Seoul in 1989, Park graduated from Kyunggi High School in February 2008, and enrolled at Dankook University, where he is majoring in physical education.He currently serves as a goodwill ambassador for 'Dynamic Korea', South Korea's international image-making campaign, alongside international figure skater Kim Yoon-A. [ [http://www.korea.net/News/Issues/IssueDetailView.asp?board_no=18579 Swimmer Park Tae-hwan as Dynamic Korea] , Korea.net, Retrieved on November 24, 2007] Park Tae-hwan is one of Asia's top Men's Freestyle swimmers. He was voted Most Valuable Player at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar where he won seven medals including three gold. The 18-year-old trains in Melbourne and is also a Pan Pacific Champion. He was voted Swimming World's Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year in 2006.

Career

Park began swimming at the age of 5 when his doctor suggested it would be good for his asthma. He began his competitive swimming career at the age of 7, earning several medals in junior competitions. [ [http://www.korea.net/News/News/newsView.asp?serial_no=20071221022 Dynamic Koreans of the year: Kim Yoon-A, Park Tae-hwan] , Korea.net, Retrieved on December 10, 2007] This early success led to Park's selection to the Korean Swimming Federation as a national team member in 2003. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, however, Park was disqualified for a false start in the preliminary heat of the men's 400m freestyle competition. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/athens2004/kor/Taehwan+Park/367522 Athletes; Taehwan Park] , yahoo.com, Retrieved on August 15, 2004] However, shortly thereafter at the 2004 Fina Swimming World Cup, Park was the runner-up in the men's 400 meter freestyle event. [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103078368.html Swim: FINA World Cup swimming results] , highbeam.com, Retrieved August 3, 2004]

Park continued his competitive success in subsequent years, most notably at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, where he won three golds, one silver and three bronze medals, the most medals won by a single athlete at the Games. He also set two Asian Records. For his success, Park was named an Athlete of the Games [ [http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/menuroot/news/Features_det.aspx-id=40531.html Doha 2006 - Athletes of the Games ] ] .

At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Victoria, Canada, Park won two gold medals (in the 1500 meter freestyle and the 400 meter freestyle) and one silver medal (200 m freestyle).

Park was named the 2006 Pacific Rim Male Swimmer of the Year by "Swimming World Magazine", beating out Olympic medalist (and 2005 awardee) Australian Grant Hackett for the honor.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle event and a silver medal in the 200 meter freestyle event. Much of the press coverage surrounding Park's successes emphasize the fact that these are the first Olympic medals in swimming for South Korea.

Beijing Bid

Just after a stunning victory against idol Grant Hackett in the men's 400m freestyle at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Park decided to train alone in Sydney, Australia as his own '500-day project', parting with his personal managing team in December of 2007. He then joined the Korean national team training base in February 2008 to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Under Park's personal coach Roh Min-sang and other members of the coaching staff, the national team trained in Malaysia (February 2008) and Guam (May 2008) to prepare Park for his second attempt at the Olympics. He qualified for competition in the men's 200 meter, 400 meter and 1500 meter freestyle events. [ [http://www.kbs.co.kr/1tv/sisa/kbsspecial/preview/index.html Park Tae-hwan, jumping from Asia to the World] ko icon, KBS Special-Beijing Olympics coverage, KBS, Retrieved on August 3, 2008]

Personal Bests

* 100m 49.32 (2007) Korean National
* 200m 1:44.85 (2008) Asia Record 2008 Beijing Olympic Final; won the silver medal
* 400m 3:41.86 (2008) Asia Record 2008 Beijing Olympic Final; won the gold medal
*1500m 14:55.03 (2006) 2006 Asian Games Final; won the gold medal

References

External Links

* [http://www.sports.or.kr/starbang/index.jsp Official Webpage by Korean Sports Council] ko icon
* [http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=680/bio/ Athletes' bio of Park Tae-hwan] , provided by [http://www.nbcolympics.com/ NBCOlympics.com]