Korean Snowboarder Wins Silver After Years of Manual Labor

"I owe this moment to my family, teammates, and coaches. I especially want to thank my wife for waiting for me all this time."

Kim Sang-gyeom, 37, the silver medalist in parallel giant slalom at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, became emotional as he shared these words on February 8 local time. During a video call with his wife, he broke down in tears of joy.

Kim's medal marks South Korea's first at these Games and the 400th in the nation's Winter Olympic history.

Kim emerged as the surprise star of the men's parallel giant slalom. All expectations had centered on Lee Sang-ho, nicknamed "Cabbage Boy," while few anticipated Kim's success. Yet he overcame adversity to complete his own "winter fairy tale."

President Lee Jae-myung sent congratulations, saying, "I sincerely congratulate you on Korea's precious first medal. Through years of sweat and painstaking effort, you finally reached the Olympic podium on your fourth attempt since the 2014 Sochi Games."

Born in 1989, Kim is the oldest member of Korea's snowboard team at these Olympics. He won gold at the 2011 Universiade and bronze at the 2017 Sapporo Asian Games. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, he became the first Korean to compete in the event, pioneering the sport in the country.

Despite his status as a national team veteran and pioneer of Korean snowboarding, making a living as an athlete proved difficult. To earn money, he took day-labor construction jobs during breaks from training.

"I train about 300 days a year, so day labor was the only work I could do," Kim said. "Training alone is hard enough, but worrying about making ends meet was exhausting both physically and mentally."

Through these hardships, Kim never abandoned his dream of winning an Olympic medal in snowboarding. After failing to advance past preliminaries at Sochi, he persistently pursued the Olympic stage. At his fourth Games, he defeated top competitors in succession to claim silver.

Kim's medal gives Korea's snow sports team significant momentum in its quest to surpass its best Olympic performance of one silver medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Young athletes born in the 2000s, including Choi Ga-on, 18, and Lee Chae-un, 20, are now expected to continue the momentum, raising hopes for Korea's first multiple medals in Olympic snow events.