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Park Tae-hwan has competed for South Korea Park Tae-hwan has won 1 gold medal at the Olympic Games Park Tae-hwan has won 3 silver medals at the Olympic Games 

Park Tae-hwan is a swimmer who has competed for South Korea. He competed at the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Park started his Olympic career as the youngest athlete of the South Korean team, aged 14, in Athens 2004. There, he was disqualified for a false start in the heats of the 400 metres freestyle. He later confessed that his disappointment over the false start rule fueled him to improve his starts, and he now produced one of the fastest reaction times among the best swimmers, posting under 0.7 of a second.

Four years later in Beijing, Park redeemed from a false start in Athens to surge past the field for an unexpected victory in the 400 metres freestyle with an Asian record time (3:41.86). His winning time also garnered him the second fastest swimmer in the event's history behind the world record holder Ian Thorpe. He also added a silver to his medal haul in the 200 with another Asian record (1:44.85), becoming the fourth swimmer in the event's history to clear a 1:45 barrier. With this feat, Park set a historic mark as the first Asian swimmer to win an Olympic medal in the distance-freestyle races.

At his third Games in 2012, Park was initially disqualified for a false start in the heats of the 400 metres freestyle, but he was reinstated into the final after the Korean Swimming Federation filed an appeal. He ended his race with a silver in 3:42.06, losing the title to Sun Yang by more than a full second. He repeated his similar feat from Beijing in the 200 metres freestyle, when he tied for the silver with Sun in a matching time of 1:44.93.

In July 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Park would be eligible for his fourth Olympics after the Korean Olympic Committee had intended to bar him from competing for the national team despite the lifting of his doping ban. He was tested positive for testosterone in 2014 until the case ended several months before Rio de Janeiro 2016.[1][2] With a dearth of training time after the doping case, Park failed to enter the next round from the heats of the 100, 200, and 400 metres freestyle and withdrew from the 1500, leaving the Games without a single medal.

Olympic Results[]

Year Event Rank
2004 Men's 400m freestyle DQ
2008 Men's 200m freestyle Silver
Men's 400m freestyle Gold
Men's 1500m freestyle 16th
2012 Men's 200m freestyle Silver
Men's 400m freestyle Silver
Men's 1500m freestyle 4th
2016 Men's 100m freestyle 32nd
Men's 200m freestyle 29th
Men's 400m freestyle 10th
Men's 1500m freestyle DNS

2004[]

Discipline Round Time
400 metres freestyle Heats DQ
Final Did not advance

2008[]

Discipline Round Time
200 metres freestyle Heats 1:46.73
Semifinal 1:45.99 AR
Final 1:44.85 AR
400 metres freestyle Heats 3:43.35
Final 3:41.86 AR
1500 metres freestyle Heats 15:05.55
Final Did not advance

2012[]

Discipline Round Time
200 metres freestyle Heats 1:46.79
Semifinal 1:46.02
Final 1:44.93
400 metres freestyle Heats 3:46.68
Final 3:42.06
1500 metres freestyle Heats 14:56.89
Final 14:50.61 NR

2016[]

Discipline Round Time
100 metres freestyle Heats 49.24
Semifinal Did not advance
Final
200 metres freestyle Heats 1:48.06
Semifinal Did not advance
Final
400 metres freestyle Heats 3:45.63
Final Did not advance
1500 metres freestyle Heats DNS
Final Did not advance

References[]

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