Country South Korea Height 1.76 m Role Olympic athlete | Name Choi Jae-bong Sport Speed skating Weight 78 kg | |
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Born 19 June 1980 (age 43) ( 1980-06-19 ) South Korea | ||
Choi Jae-bong (Korean: 최재봉, Hanja: 崔財鳳, born 19 June 1980) is a South Korean speed skater. He represented his country at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. At that time he was the holder of the junior World record at 1500 m, set in early December 1997 in Thialf, Heerenveen, where he clocked 1:52.25 to break the record. In Nagano where he finished in 12th position he broke his own world junior record to a new best time of 1:51.47, which was 0.78 of a second faster. He also finished in 29th position at the 5000 m. In November 1998 he broke the junior world record over 500 m into a new time of 36.30 in Calgary and a day later he broke his own 1500 m record again, this time 1:49.71 was his new best time. Due to these records and some other decent results in that same weekend he also broke the junior world record for the small allround classification to 153.689 points. That same season he won the bronze medal at the World Junior Allround Championships and broke another two world records. He set 1:10.87 at the 1000 m in February 1999 and a total of 143.965 points for the sprint classification again in Calgary.
As a senior, during his second Olympic Games, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City he finished 17th at the 500 m, 12th at the 1000 m and 21st at the 1500 m. He also represented South Korea four years later during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. In Italy he finished in his all-time best Olympic result, by becoming 8th at the 500 m. He also became 17th at the 1000 m.