Han Kyu-chul

Han Kyu-chul

Personal information
Full name	Han Kyu-chul
National team	South Korea
Born	24 December 1981
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, butterfly, medley
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for South Korea Asian Games 2002 Busan 400 m freestyle 2002 Busan 1500 m freestyle 2002 Busan 4×100 m freestyle 2002 Busan 4×200 m freestyle 2006 Doha 200 m medley 2006 Doha 400 m medley 2006 Doha 4×100 m freestyle 2006 Doha 4×200 m freestyle

Han Kyu-chul (also Han Gyu-cheol, Korean: 한 규철; born December 24, 1981) is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events.^[1] He is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004), and an eight-time bronze medalist at the Asian Games (2002 and 2006).

Han made his first South Korean team, as an eighteen-year-old junior, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. There, he failed to reach the semifinals in any of his individual events, finishing nineteenth in the 200 m butterfly (1:59.85), and thirty-third in the 200 m individual medley (2:06.42).^[2][3][4]

When South Korea hosted the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Han won a total of four medals, including two in the freestyle relays. He also enjoyed his teammate Cho Sung-Mo by giving the Koreans a 2–3 finish in the 1500 m freestyle, earning him a bronze in 15:22.38.^[5][6]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Han shortened his program, swimming only in the men's 200 m freestyle. He cleared a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:50.54 from the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.^[7][8] He challenged seven other swimmers in heat five, including three-time Olympian Jacob Carstensen of Denmark. Han rounded out the field to last place by two hundredths of a second (0.02) behind Hungary's Tamás Szűcs, outside his entry time of 1:52.28. Han failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-third overall in the preliminaries.^[9][10]

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Han added four more bronze medals to his collection for a total of eight. He also helped out his South Korean team, including three-time champion Park Tae-Hwan, to defend their medals from Busan in the 400 and 800 m freestyle relays.^[6][11][12]

References

1. "Han Kyu-chul". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
2. "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 200m Butterfly Heat 5" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 218. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
3. "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 200m Individual Medley Heat 1" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 308. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
4. "[올림픽/수영]한국수영 '희망' 한규철 예선 탈락" [Olympic Games: Korea's swimming hopeful Han Kyu-chul eliminated] (in Korean). The Dong-a Ilbo. 18 September 2000. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
5. "China and Japan Share the Gold on Day 5 of Asian Games; China's Wu and Xu Shine". Swimming World Magazine. 4 October 2002. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
6. "동메달만 11개… 안타까운 ‘인어왕자’" ["Mermaid prince" ends his career with a bronze] (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo. 8 December 2006. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
7. "Swimming – Men's 200m Freestyle Startlist (Heat 5)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
8. "2003 FINA World Championships (Barcelona, Spain) – Men's 200m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Omega Timing. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
9. "Men's 200m Freestyle Heat 5". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
10. Thomas, Stephen (15 August 2004). "Men's 200 Freestyle Prelims: Thorpe Fastest in 1:47.22; Hoogie, Keller, Phelps and Hackett All in the Mix". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
11. "Sano of Japan takes men's 200m IM at Asiad". Xinhua News Agency (People's Daily). 7 December 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
12. "Asian Games: China's swimmers stun in Qatar". Taipei Times. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2013.