Park Si-hun

Park Si-hun
Personal information
Full name	Park Si-hun
Born	December 16, 1965 (age 58); Haman County, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
Sport
Country	South Korea
Event	Men's boxing
Medal record
Men's boxing
Representing South Korea
Olympic Games
Asian Amateur Championships

Park Si-hun (Korean: 박시헌; born December 16, 1965) is a retired South Korean boxer. He won a gold medal in the men's light middleweight category at the 1988 Summer Olympics, being awarded victory over Roy Jones Jr. of the United States even though most observers considered that Jones had clearly won. The result was widely condemned and led to reforms in the way boxing is scored at the Olympics.

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.

Park competed for South Korea at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. In Park's quarterfinal bout against Vincenzo Nardiello of Italy, Nardiello easily won the first two rounds, but because Park won the third round by a large margin, he was given the fight. Nardiello then had to be dragged out of the ring, shouting at the judges.^[1]

In the finals for the men's light middleweight, Park fought American boxer Roy Jones Jr. Park was named the winner of the bout following a 3–2 decision by the judges. Later scoring indicated that Jones had landed 86 punches to Park's 32.^[2] Jones has said that Park apologized to him afterward.^[2] Several journalists made sworn statements that judge Hiouad Larbi of Morocco said after the match that he acknowledged that Jones had won easily, but chose to rule in favor of Park in order to placate the South Korean spectators.^[3]^[4] Two of the three judges voting for Park were eventually banned from the sport for life.^[2]

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.^[2]

Coaching career

After the 1988 Olympics, Park retired from boxing without turning professional. He 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. He was also named an assistant coach at Pohang Poseidons. Later^[when?], he became a head coach of the South Korea Olympic team.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Park participated in the inaugural World Youth Amateur Boxing Championships as the coach of Team Korea. He is the coach of the reserve team of the South Korea national boxing team.^[5]

Results

1985 Boxing World Cup
Event	Round	Result	Opponent	Score
Light Middleweight	Quarterfinal	Win	Freddy Sanchez	RSC 2
	Semifinal	Win	Michael Timm	5-0
	Final	Win	Kevin Bryant	4-1

1988 Summer Olympics
Event	Round	Result	Opponent	Score
Light Middleweight	First	bye
	Second	Win	Abdullah Ramadan	RSC 2
	Third	Win	Torsten Schmitz	5-0
	Quarterfinal	Win	Vincenzo Nardiello	3-2
	Semifinal	Win	Ray Downey	5-0
	Final	Win	Roy Jones Jr.	3-2

References

^ Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Loucky (2008). The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. Aurum Press. pp. 466–467. ISBN 978-1-84513-3306.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Vecsey, George (26 September 1997). "Sports of The Times; Nice Gesture Substitutes For Justice". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
^ ABRAHAMSON, ALAN (9 February 2002). "The Justice Department". Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via LA Times.
^ Anderson, Dave (22 March 1989). "SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Roy Jones Jr. Still Fighting For the Gold". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
^ "올림픽 메달리스트 '얻어맞고 판정승'의 아픈 기억". 9 July 2023.

[1] Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Loucky (2008). The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. Aurum Press. pp. 466–467. ISBN 978-1-84513-3306.

[times-2] Vecsey, George (26 September 1997). "Sports of The Times; Nice Gesture Substitutes For Justice". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via NYTimes.com.

[latimes-3] ABRAHAMSON, ALAN (9 February 2002). "The Justice Department". Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via LA Times.

[nytimes-4] Anderson, Dave (22 March 1989). "SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Roy Jones Jr. Still Fighting For the Gold". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2017 – via NYTimes.com.

[5] "올림픽 메달리스트 '얻어맞고 판정승'의 아픈 기억". 9 July 2023.

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