Park Tae-hwan

Park Tae-hwan (, ; born September 27, 1989) is a South Korean competitive swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and world champion.

He has four Olympic medals, five world titles, and 20 Asian Games medals.

On September 27, 1989, Park was born in Seoul, South Korea to a middle-class family.

His father is a saxophone player and his mother is a dancer.

He has an elder sister Park In-mi.

Park started swimming at the age of 5.

He idolizes Ian Thorpe as his role model.

Park is an alumnus of Kyunggi High School and Dankook University.

He was voted Most Valuable Player at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar where he won seven medals including three gold.

He was voted Swimming World's Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year in 2006.

Park, as an Olympic and Asian Games medalist, was granted an exemption from two years of mandatory military service.

SK Telecom had sponsored Park from 2007 to 2012 but when his contract expired in 2012, SK Telecom decided to discontinue their sponsorship.

Park was left to support his own athletic career for half a year.

In the same year, Korea Swimming Federation (KSF) refused to give Park his 50 million won (approximately $44,950 USD) for winning two silver medals in the London Olympics.

He won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle and a silver in the 200-meter freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The couple split in 2010.

He currently serves as a goodwill ambassador for 'Dynamic Korea', South Korea's international image-making campaign, alongside international figure skater Yuna Kim.

Park Tae-hwan is one of Asia's top men's freestyle swimmers.

He also won two silver medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle.

He is the first Asian swimmer to claim a gold medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle, and the first-ever South Korean swimmer to win any Olympic medal in swimming.

He also holds 3 Asian Records, all in Men's Freestyle.

He is best known for his impressive range and versatility, as he is able to compete at international level in 100-, 200-, 400- and 1,500-meter freestyle.

He graduated from Dankook University in February 2012, where he majored in Physical Education.

In 2012, Park released an autobiography 박태환 : Freestyle Hero.

Park met his first love when they were in Dankook University.

However, he was still required to undergo four weeks of basic training, which he reported for on October 4, 2012.

Park has allegedly faced many financial difficulties, despite being a world-class athlete.

In 2013, it was revealed that Park did not have a swimming pool to train in.

Within Seoul, there were only 7 swimming pools with a 50-meter lane, the international standard.

These pools were either all booked or did not fulfill basic conditions like the water temperature which made it impossible to train in.

In March 2013, Park signed with the Incheon Metropolitan City’s swimming team.

Park has since been receiving an annual salary from the city.

In the sport centre of Incheon City, the swimming arena is named as Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center (문학박태환수영장) in honor to Park's unique achievement.

He received this award money in 2014.

He was hit by a steroid scandal as prosecutors confirmed on January 27, 2015 that he tested positive in a doping test.

His doctor (who later claimed unfamiliarity with the regulations) had administered Nebido - a relatively new anabolic steroid.

In mid-Aug, 2016, Seoul Central District Court of final appeal ruled the doctor who injected Park with the steroid Nebido guilty of breaching medical code for failing to log into her patient's records, but cleared of the more serious charge of causing Park bodily harm.

The doctor was fined $10,000 for the incident which resulted in an 18-month ban by FINA for Park, thus ruling the former Olympic champion out of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In October 2016, as the 2016 South Korean political scandal broke out, it was revealed that Park and his doping woes were caused by the corruption within South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Sports, thus rendering him a victim.

With Kim Jong, the former Vice Minister of Culture and Sports, issued an apology to him.