Lee Won-hee

Korean spelling
Hangeul	이원희
Hanja	李元熹
Revised Romanization	I won-hui
McCune- Reischauer	Yi Wŏn-hŭi
See also : Korean name

Lee Won-hee (born July 19, 1981 ) is a former South Korean judoka . He was world champion in 2003 and lightweight Olympic champion in 2004 .

The 1.72 m tall Lee Won-hee fought at half-light weight until 2002 and rose to light weight in 2003. At the Universiade 2003 in Jeju , he won the final against the Japanese Masahiro Takamatsu . Two weeks after the Universiade, the 2003 World Judo Championships took place in Osaka . In the second round Lee defeated the Belarusian Anatol Larukou , then he defeated the Japanese Yūsuke Kanamaru in the quarter-finals and Victor Bivol from Moldova in the semi-finals . Lee Won-hee secured the title by beating Frenchman Daniel Fernandes in the final . A month and a half after the World Championships, the Asian Championships were held in Jeju, Lee won the title by beating Yūsuke Kanamaru in the final. At the Korea Open, also held in Jeju, Lee lost to Jimmy Pedro from the United States in December .

In early 2004, Lee Won-Hee won the Super World Cup in Moscow. At the Olympic Games in Athens he defeated the Belarusian Anatol Larukou in the opening fight after five minutes of fighting time. This was to be the only fight for the South Korean in Athens that he did not win early. Ippon victories over Jimmy Pedro, the Ukrainian Hennadij Bilodid and the Moldovan Victor Bivol followed. Lee Won-hee ended the final against the Russian Vitaly Makarow nine seconds before the regular end, but at this point he was already clearly in the lead.

In 2006 Lee Won-hee won bronze with the South Korean men's team at the World Team Championships. At the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 , he defeated the Japanese Masahiro Takamatsu in the final. Lee Won-hee became a judo coach after his career and later took over the South Korean women's national team.

Web links

• Lee Won-hee in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Tournament results at judoinside.com

Footnotes

1. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com
2. ↑ Korea Open 2003 at judoinside.com
3. ↑ The representation follows the Olympic database Sports-Reference .

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Lee is the family name here, Wonhee is the first name.