Career
He is a two-time Olympian (1996 and 2000), and a double medalist at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. Kim made his official debut, as a 17-year-old, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Kim decided to experiment with the sprint freestyle, competing only in two swimming events.
He posted FINA B-standards of 22.99 (50 m freestyle) and 51.14 (100 m freestyle) from the Dong-A Swimming Tournament in Ulsan.
In the 100 m freestyle, Kim placed twenty-fourth on the morning"s prelims. Two days later, in the 50 m freestyle, Kim missed the semifinals by a small fraction of 0.02 seconds, finishing a tie with China"s Jiang Chengji in a South Korean record of 22.82.
In the 50 m freestyle, Kim was delighted and overwhelmed by the home crowd, as he shared a gold medal with Uzbekistan"s Ravil Nachaev in a matching time of 22.86, just 0.04 seconds outside his record from Sydney two years before. He also captured a bronze, along with his teammates Sung Minister, Han Kyu-Chul, and Ko Yun-Ho, in the 4×100 m freestyle relay (3:2358).
