Name Lee Won-hee Role Olympic athlete | Spouse Mi-Hyun Kim (m. 2008) | |
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Similar People Mi‑Hyun Kim, Vitaliy Makarov, Jimmy Pedro, Leandro Guilheiro | ||
Judo Olympia Athen 2004 Vitaliy Makarov vs Lee Won Hee
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Lee Won-Hee (born July 19, 1981) is a South Korean quadruple judo champion. Lee won the gold medal in the men's lightweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. He was the world champion in 2003. He also won the gold medal in 2006 Asian Games and 2003 Asian Judo Championships.
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He won his Olympic gold medal by way of Ippon against Vitaly Makarov of Russia with 9 seconds left. He was leading in the bout anyway, but had secured the win when he went in for Drop Seoi Nage and combined it with Ko-Ouchi Gari to deliver Makarov onto his back with force. He was voted top judoka in the 2004 Olympics. Lee was renowned for his favourite technique Tai Otoshi.
Lee is arguably one of the best South Korean judokas ever to live. He lost to Wang Ki-chun in the qualifications for the 2007 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro and 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Lee taught judo at his alma mater Yong In University. In 2015, he was promoted to head coach of the South Korean Women's Judo National Team.
Personal life
During his active career, he was nicknamed "Mr. Ippon" and "Grand Slammer" for his 48-game winning streak, which 43 was won by ippon.
Lee attended Boseong Middle School. He is believed to have an IQ of 148.
In 2008, Lee married golfer Mi-Hyun Kim, and they have a son, Yeseong.