Park Si-hun

Park Si-Hun
Personal information
Full name Park Si-Hun
Born (1965-12-16) December 16, 1965
Haman County, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
Sport
Country  South Korea
Event(s) Men’s boxing
Park Si-hun
Medal record
Men’s boxing
Representing  South Korea
Olympic Games
1988 Seoul Light Middleweight
Asian Amateur Championships
1985 Bangkok Light Middleweight
1987 Kuwait Light Middleweight

Park Si-Hun (박시헌; born December 16, 1965 in Haman County, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea) is a retired South Korean amateur boxer who received a controversial Olympic gold medal.

Career

Park's first major success came in 1985 when he won the light middleweight gold at the Boxing World Cup, defeating 1985 European Champion Michael Timm and 1984 US national champion Kevin Bryant. He was then given the light middleweight gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics over Roy Jones, Jr. despite an inferior performance.

In the 1988 games, Park won the title bout against Roy Jones, Jr., following a 3–2 decision by the judges. Later scoring indicates that Jones landed 86 punches to Park's 32.[1] Jones has stated Park himself apologized to him afterward.[1] Several journalists made sworn statements that judge Hiouad Larbi of Morocco commented after the match indicating that he acknowledged that Jones won easily, but chose to rule in favor of Park in order to placate the South Korean spectators.[2][3] Two of the three judges voting for Park were eventually banned from the sport for life.[1]

The decision harkened back to the boxing competition at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. At that time, Koreans were aggrieved that several of their gold medal hopefuls lost controversial decisions to Americans (in particular Jerry Page's win over Kim Dong-Kil, which they officially protested) and at one point threatened to withdraw from the games.[4]

In Park's quarterfinal bout against Vincenzo Nardiello of Italy, Nardiello easily won the first two rounds, but because Park won the 3rd round by 'a very large margin' he was given the fight. Nardiello then had to be dragged out of the ring, screaming at the judges.[5]

The Jones-Park incident, along with another highly disputed decision against American Michael Carbajal in the same games, led Olympic organizers to establish a new scoring system for Olympic boxing.[1]

Post career

He retired then would later become a crab farmer. He would later be so ashamed of the terrible decision that was handed to him in the olympics and said it was don king contribution that lead the judges to hand him the gold medal. After the 1988 Olympics, Park retired from his boxing career without turning pro. Park earned a bachelor's degree in physical education at Kyungnam University and served as a high school physical education teacher in Jinhae, Gyeongsangnam-do until 2001 when he was named an assistant coach of the South Korea national amateur boxing team.

In 2008, Park participated in the inaugural World Youth Amateur Boxing Championships as the coach of Team Korea. He is currently the coach of the reserve team of the South Korea national boxing team.

Results

1985 Boxing World Cup
Event Round Result Opponent Score
Light Middleweight Quarterfinal Win Puerto Rico Freddy Sanchez RSC 2
Semifinal Win East Germany Michael Timm 5-0
Final Win United States Kevin Bryant 4-1
1988 Summer Olympics
Event Round Result Opponent Score
Light Middleweight First bye
Second Win Sudan Abdullah Ramadan RSC 2
Third Win East Germany Torsten Schmitz 5-0
Quarterfinal Win Italy Vincenzo Nardiello 3-2
Semifinal Win Canada Ray Downey 5-0
Final Win United States Roy Jones, Jr. 3-2

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vecsey, George (26 September 1997). "Sports of The Times; Nice Gesture Substitutes For Justice". Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  2. ↑ ABRAHAMSON, ALAN (9 February 2002). "The Justice Department". Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via LA Times.
  3. ↑ Anderson, Dave (22 March 1989). "SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Roy Jones Jr. Still Fighting For the Gold". Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  4. ↑ "Olympic Triumph!". Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Loucky (2008). The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. Aurum Press. pp. 466–467. ISBN 978-1-84513-3306.
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