Kim Jun-ho (fencer)

Kim Jun-ho
Hangul	김준호
Hanja	金準鎬
Revised Romanization	Gim Jun-ho
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Jun-ho

Kim Jun-ho
Kim Jun-ho
Born	26 May 1994 (age 27); Hwaseong, South Korea
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Sport
Country	South Korea
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	Sabre
Hand	right-handed
Club	Hwaseong City Hall
Head coach	Yang Dal-sik
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record
Olympic Games
World Championships
Asian Games
Asian Championships
Universiade

Kim Jun-ho (born 26 May 1994) is a South Korean right-handed sabre fencer, three-time team Asian champion, three-time team world champion, and 2021 team Olympic champion.^[1]

Early life[]

Kim had been a football player throughout elementary school and was introduced to fencing in middle school. He enrolled at Dong-Eui University as it was one of the few universities which had a fencing team.^[2]

Career[]

Kim made the senior national team for the 2014–15 season. He took silver in the 2016 Warsaw competition of the 2015–16 Fencing World Cup, narrowly losing to compatriot Gu Bon-gil, and was also part of the team — along with Gu, Kim Jung-hwan and Oh Sang-uk — which won gold in the men's team sabre at the 2016 Asian Fencing Championships.^[3] However, there was no men's team sabre at the 2016 Summer Olympics due to the now-abolished rotation policy and he and Oh were not ranked high enough to qualify for the individual event. Unusual for professional athletes, Kim decided to enlist early rather than apply for a postponement and was assigned to the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps.

In 2018 Kim was part of the team which swept gold in the team sabre event at both the World Championships and the Asian Games.^[4]^[5] He was scheduled to be discharged in October but was granted an early discharge; participating athletes who won gold and had yet to complete their military service were granted exemptions but since Kim had already enlisted, he was discharged earlier than scheduled.^[6]^[7]

With the retirement of Kim Jung-hwan, Ha Han-sol joined the team and they won gold in the men's team sabre event at the 2019 World Fencing Championships. In the individual event, he made it to the Round of 32 where he was defeated by András Szatmári. He also won bronze at the Cairo Grand Prix, having been defeated by Oh in the quarter-final.^[8]

Kim was reunited with his teammates from the 2018 Asian Games and World Championships after Kim Jung-hwan came out of retirement and they qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[9] He was the designated substitute for the team and did not compete in the individual event as Kim Jung-hwan's higher individual FIE ranking meant that the latter would enter the individual event instead. Despite the postponement of the Olympics, the quartet successfully defended the men's team sabre gold medal.^[10]^[11]

Medal Record[]

Olympic Games[]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[12]

World Championship[]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2017	Leipzig, Germany	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[13]
2018	Wuxi, China	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd^[14]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[15]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[16]

Asian Championship[]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2016	Wuxi, China	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[17]
2017	Hong Kong, China	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd^[18]
2017	Hong Kong, China	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[19]
2018	Bangkok, Thailand	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd^[20]
2018	Bangkok, Thailand	Team Men's Sabre	3rd^[21]
2019	Tokyo, Japan	Team Men's Sabre	1st^[22]

Grand Prix[]

Date	Location	Event	Position
02/22/2019	Cairo, Egypt	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd^[23]

World Cup[]

Date	Location	Event	Position
02/19/2016	Warsaw, Poland	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd^[24]
05/10/2019	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd^[25]

Personal life[]

In 2018, Kim married his girlfriend Yoo Jung-hyeon.^[26] In December 2021, Kim announced through a television show that his wife had given birth to their first child.^[27]

In August 2021, Kim signed with Haewadal Entertainment.^[28]