Oh Sang-uk
Personal information
Born	(1996-09-30) 30 September 1996 (age 27) Daejeon, South Korea
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Sport
Country	South Korea
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	Sabre
Hand	right-handed
Club	Daejeon City
Head coach	Kim Hyung-Yeol
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record Men's sabre Representing  South Korea Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Team World Championships 2017 Leipzig Team 2018 Wuxi Team 2019 Budapest Individual 2019 Budapest Team 2022 Cairo Team 2023 Milan Team Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Team 2018 Jakarta Individual 2022 Hangzhou Team 2022 Hangzhou Individual Asian Championships 2016 Wuxi Team 2017 Hong Kong Team 2019 Chiba Individual 2019 Chiba Team 2018 Bangkok Team Universiade 2017 Taipei Team 2019 Naples Individual 2019 Naples Team

Oh Sang-uk (born 30 September 1996) is a South Korean right-handed sabre fencer.^[1]

Oh is a four-time team Asian champion, 2019 individual Asian champion, three-time team world champion, and 2019 individual world champion.

Competing at his first Summer Olympic Games, Oh was a member of the South Korean team that won gold in team men's sabre at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Early life

Oh followed his older brother into fencing and joined his middle school's fencing team.^[2][3] A native of Daejeon, he attended Songchon High School, known as a high school fencing powerhouse in the region, and began representing the national team in the youth categories. During his senior year, he won gold in the individual sabre event at the national high school championships and his high school team won in the team event.^[4]

Career

Oh had been a stand-out in the junior and cadet categories and quickly drew attention for defeating then-ranked world number 1 and 2012 Olympic team gold medalist Gu Bon-gil in the Round of 16 of the 2015 National Championships.^[2] He was earmarked as a successor to Kim Jung-hwan, whom he idolized in high school and who was speculated to be retiring after the 2016 Olympics, due to their similar aggressive style of play and agility.^[5] While he did not make it to the final, he was ranked high enough to qualify for the senior national team, a rarity for a teenager as fencers were generally selected for the national team while in college. At that time, the men's sabre team went through a generational change with the retirements of 2012 Olympic team gold medalists Oh Eun-seok and Won Woo-young. The nineteen-year-old was added into the team with Kim Jun-ho, joining veterans Kim Jung-hwan and Gu Bon-gil for the 2016 Asian Championships. He won his first ever gold medal in a major international tournament when they won the team gold.

Due the now-abolished rotation system, there was no men's team sabre event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Oh did not rank high enough to qualify for the individual event. He won back-to-back gold medals with the same team at the World Championships and Asian Championships, in 2017 and 2018.^[6] In the 2018 Asian Games, he reached the final of the individual event and was defeated by Gu, taking silver. However, his gold medal in the team event meant that he was exempted from mandatory military service.^[7] Kim Jung-hwan retired from the national team after the Asian Games and was replaced by Ha Han-sol.

Oh won four gold medals in 2019, winning in both the team and individual events at the World Championships and Asian Championships. Kim Jung-hwan came out of retirement and the gold medal-winning team from the 2017 and 2018 Worlds was reunited again and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was postponed for a year. He was nearly unable to participate as he contracted COVID-19 several months prior to the Olympics and then sustained an ankle injury during pre-competition training.^[8][9]

Oh went into the Olympics ranked world number 1, thus earning a spot in the individual event. However, he lost to Sandro Bazadze in the quarter-finals.^[3] He won his first Olympic medal when they won gold in the team event.^[10] In the team semi-finals, he scored the last point in a narrow 45–42 win over Germany, sending the South Koreans to the final for a second consecutive time.^[11] During the final against Italy, with the score at 40–21 to South Korea, Oh nearly conceded their lead but managed to score the final five points to win 45–26, the exact same score in the final nine years prior.^[8]

Medal record

Olympic Games

Year	Location	Event	Position
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Men's Sabre	1st[12]

World Championship

Year	Location	Event	Position
2017	Leipzig, Germany	Team Men's Sabre	1st[13]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Men's Sabre	1st[14]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[15]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Team Men's Sabre	1st[16]

Asian Championship

Year	Location	Event	Position
2016	Wuxi, China	Team Men's Sabre	1st[17]
2017	Hong Kong, China	Team Men's Sabre	1st[18]
2018	Bangkok, Thailand	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[19]
2019	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[20]
2019	Tokyo, Japan	Team Men's Sabre	1st[21]
2022	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[22]
2022	Seoul, South Korea	Team Men's Sabre	1st[23]

Grand Prix

Date	Location	Event	Position
2017-12-15	Cancún, Mexico	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[24]
2018-05-11	Moscow, Russia	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[25]
2019-02-22	Cairo, Egypt	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[26]
2019-04-26	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[27]
2021-11-11	Orleans, France	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[28]
2023-04-29	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[29]

World Cup

Date	Location	Event	Position
2015-01-30	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[30]
2016-12-02	Győr, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[31]
2017-02-03	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[32]
2017-12-01	Győr, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[33]
2018-05-18	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[34]
2018-11-16	Algier, Algeria	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[35]
2019-02-01	Warsaw, Poland	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[36]
2019-03-22	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[37]
2019-05-10	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[38]
2020-02-21	Warsaw, Poland	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[39]
2020-03-06	Luxembourg	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[40]
2020-03-08		Team Men's Sabre	1th[41]
2021-03-11	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[42]
2022-03-18	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[43]
2022-05-06	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[44]
2022-05-08		Team Men's Sabre	1st[45]
2022-07-15	Cairo, Egypt	Team Men's Sabre	1st[46]

Performance timeline

National team

Team Events	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
	World Cup
Algeria	NH		A	W	NH			W
Egypt	NH				W	NH
Georgia	QF	NH						W
Hungary	QF	F	W	NH	W	NH	SF	QF	W
Italy	A	SF	W	W	W	NH			A
Luxembourg	NH					W	NH
Poland	F	QF	SF	W	QF	F	NH		A
Senegal	NH	SF	NH
Spain	QF	QF	A	W	SF	NH		W	R16

Individual

Team Events	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
	Grand Prix
Canada	NH					QF	NH
Egypt	NH				W	NH
France	NH						SF	A
Italy	NH							R16
Mexico	NH	R64	W	NH
Russia	R32	R32	QF	W	R32	NH
South Korea	R64	R32	QF	R16	W	NH			W
Tunisia	NH								A
United States	R64	NH
	World Cup
Algeria	NH		A	SF	NH			R64
Egypt	NH				R32	NH
Georgia	R16	NH						QF
Hungary	R16	W	W	NH	F	NH	W	SF	R64
Italy	SF	QF	SF	QF	R16	NH			A
Luxembourg	NH					SF	NH
Poland	R64	R16	R32	R16	SF	SF	NH		A
Senegal	NH	R16	NH
Spain	R64	QF	A	SF	SF	NH		W	R16

Personal life

Oh is in a relationship with foil fencer Hong Hyo-jin, who is 2 years older than him.^[47][5]

Oh attended Daejeon University, known for its fencing team, on a scholarship and graduated in 2019.^[48][49]

Filmography

Television shows