Korea’s Olympic Icon

Korea’s Olympic Icon - Kim Un-yong’s Resolute Odyssey shares profound insights into the life of Kim Un-yong, the father of Olympic Taekwondo and a legend of Korean sports administration








This biography is of special significance as a work by David Miller, veteran sports journalist and awards winning author from Great Britain, who has spent six decades traveling to sports events around the globe. Miller has covered 24 Olympic Games, attending 45 annual Sessions of the International Olympic Committee, fourteen World Cup football finals and more than thirty sports in 120 countries. Korea's Olympic Icon - Kim Un-yong’s Resolute Odyssey provides profound insights into the exhilarating life of Kim Un-yong, a man whose light shone brightest on the international stage, leaving a huge footprint on sports history not only in South Korea and Asia but across the world. The biography follows a thoroughly researched and considered perspective of Kim's resilient life and career despite challenges and adversities.





Whilst the focus of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) publication in 2017, A Big Man Who Embraced the World, Kim Un-Yong, recounted primarily Kim's life and career as national sports hero, this latest work delves into his international impact. Miller and Kim interacted over many years and enjoyed a particular closeness; the author has stated that "there would never have been an Olympics in Seoul had it not been for Kim". 





Kim Un-yong's global influence was individually responsible for major events being hosted by South Korea, most notably the Seoul Olympics of 1988 and the FIFA World Cup of 2002 jointly with Japan. Further historic moments included the opening and closing ceremonies of Sydney's 2000 Olympics with joint marches of the North and South teams of the Peninsular arranged by Kim. It was also in the 2000 Sydney Olympics that Kim achieved Taekwondo’s inclusion as an Olympic sport for the first time: a hitherto little known domestic leisure sport.





As IOC President Samaranch's privately intended successor, Kim's mounting fame and senior appointments, as IOC vice-president and as president of the General Assembly of International Sports Federations (GAISF), attracted envy, both within sport and domestically within politics. Lamentable political revenge at home in the aftermath of Pyeongchang’s unsuccessful first of three Winter Olympic bids in 2003, resulting in a contrived prison sentence challenged by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, but symbiotically mirrored by the IOC Ethics Commission, found Kim toppled from authority, forced to resign his IOC vice-presidency just months after being elected by a substantial majority.





Kim would go on to resume his outside activities and sharing his sports administration acumen through a 2006 advisory role on the organising committee for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon and a 2010 advisory role on the organising committee for the 2015 Universiade in Gwangju and taking on positions as an advisor to the KSOC and honorary chairman of the Korea Taekwondo Association. He would also share his ideas through lectures and talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and various universities, whilst contributing columns to online and printed media. In 2016 he founded the Kimunyong Sport Committee (KUYSC) and launched the Kimunyong Cup International Open Taekwondo Championships (G1) shortly before his unexpected passing in October 2017.





Detailing the passionate life story of Kim Un-yong as someone who represented South Korea’s face in the world of global sports - taking on multiple roles over history as a soldier, diplomat, sports administrator, and politician - this critical biography is rich in messages of courage and hope that are worthy of sharing with younger readers. It also offers a practical guide to thinking people of all generations in fields beyond sports administration and marketing, including diplomacy and international business. 





The book consists of eight chapters: 1. Emergent Phenomenon, 2. Seoul Spectacular, 3. Asian Leadership, 4. Salt Lake Subterfuge, 5. Presidential Turmoil, 6. Pyeongchang Reversal, 7. Symbiotic Convergence, and 8. Squandered Icon. It also includes a foreword and a preface by the IOC Finance Commission chairman, Ng Ser Miang and Honorary IOC member, Vitali Smirnov, respectively. Its 320 pages capture the life of Kim Un-yong devoted to serving Korea and the Olympic Movement, developing and globalising Taekwondo and elevating the stature of Korean sports.











About the author





David Miller is a British journalist who has covered sports events for 60 years. Educated in history, philosophy, and sports journalism at Cambridge University, Miller has worked as a reporter for such media as the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, and Daily Express. He has established a reputation for his balanced and in-depth reporting and contributions, heading the sports department at the London-based newspaper The Times. Appointed an official IOC historian by former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, he has written official IOC books updated every four years. He continues writing and lecturing today as a freelancer.





 





Table of Contents





ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS





FOREWORD





PREFACE





| CHAPTER 1  EMERGENT PHENOMENON





| CHAPTER 2  SEOUL SPECTACULAR