Park Joo-bong (born 5 December 1964) is a South Korean former badminton player who excelled from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s. He was a member of South Korean national team from 1981 to 1996. He won a gold medal in the men's doubles at the 1992 Olympics, three-times World mixed doubles champion, two-times World men's doubles champion, and a silver medal in the mixed doubles at the 1996 Olympics.

Career

Park began his badminton career at the age of 11 encouraged by his father, Park Myung-soo. He was selected to join the South Korean national team in 1981. Park is one of the most successful players ever in the World Badminton Championships with 5 titles, 2 of them in men's doubles and 3 in mixed doubles. He also won a gold and a silver medal at the Summer Olympics and 9 All England Open Badminton Championships titles. Inspired by his idol Christian Hadinata, though Park was primarily a doubles player, the greatest one ever in the opinion of some, he was capable of world class level singles which he displayed in occasional tournaments and Thomas Cup appearances early in his career and currently holds the South Korean national record of 103 consecutive wins in men's singles from 1981 to 1984. His playing strengths included remarkable reflexes, reach, quickness, agility, and power. Park competed for Korea in badminton at the 1992 Summer Olympics in men's doubles with partner Kim Moon-Soo. They won the gold medal defeating Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan from Indonesia 15-11, 15-7. Park also competed for Korea in badminton at the 1996 Summer Olympics in mixed doubles with partner Ra Kyung-min. They won the silver medal, losing in the final against Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah 13-15, 15-4, 15-12. Park was inducted into the Badminton Hall of Fame in 2001.

Personal life

Park is married to Lee Soo-jin, with their son Park Kwang-ryul who was born on 2 October 1994. Besides being able to speak his mother tongue, he can also speak English and Japanese.

Achievements

Olympic Games

Men's doubles Mixed doubles

World Championships

Men's doubles Mixed doubles

World Cup

Men's doubles Mixed doubles

Asian Games

Men's doubles Mixed doubles

Asian Championships

Men's singles Men's doubles Mixed doubles

Asian Cup

Mixed doubles

IBF World Grand Prix (47 titles, 9 runners-up)

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006. Men's singles Men's doubles Mixed doubles

IBF International (4 titles)

Men's doubles Mixed doubles

Open Tournament (1 title)

Men's doubles

Invitational tournament (1 runners-up)

Men's doubles