Oh Sang-uk (; born 30 September 1996) is a South Korean right-handed sabre fencer.

Oh is a five-time team Asian champion, 2019 and 2024 individual Asian champion, three-time team world champion, and 2019 individual world champion.

A two-time Olympian, Oh is a two-time team Olympic champion in 2020 and 2024 and 2024 individual Olympic champion.

Early life OH followed his older brother into fencing and joined his middle school's fencing team. A native of Daejeon, he attended , 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. He won his first Olympic medal when they won gold in the team event. 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. 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.

Medal record Olympic Games YearLocationEventPosition2021 Tokyo, JapanTeam Men's Sabre1st2024 Paris, FranceIndividual Men's Sabre1stTeam Men's Sabre1st

World Championships YearLocationEventPosition2017 Leipzig, GermanyTeam Men's Sabre1st2018 Wuxi, ChinaTeam Men's Sabre1st2019 Budapest, HungaryIndividual Men's Sabre1st2019 Budapest, HungaryTeam Men's Sabre1st

Grand Prix DateLocationEventPosition2017-12-15 Cancún, MexicoIndividual Men's Sabre1st2018-05-11 Moscow, RussiaIndividual Men's Sabre1st2019-02-22 Cairo, EgyptIndividual Men's Sabre1st2019-04-26 Seoul, South KoreaIndividual Men's Sabre1st2021-11-11 Orleans, FranceIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2023-04-29 Seoul, South KoreaIndividual Men's Sabre1st

World Cup

DateLocationEventPosition2015-01-30 Padua, ItalyIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2016-12-02 Győr, HungaryIndividual Men's Sabre1st2017-02-03 Padua, ItalyIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2017-12-01 Győr, HungaryIndividual Men's Sabre1st2018-05-18 Madrid, SpainIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2018-11-16 Algier, AlgeriaIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2019-02-01 Warsaw, PolandIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2019-03-22 Budapest, HungaryIndividual Men's Sabre2nd2019-05-10 Madrid, SpainIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2020-02-21 Warsaw, PolandIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2020-03-06 LuxembourgIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2020-03-08Team Men's Sabre1st2021-03-11 Budapest, HungaryIndividual Men's Sabre1st2022-03-18 Budapest, HungaryIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2022-05-06 Madrid, SpainIndividual Men's Sabre1st2022-05-08Team Men's Sabre1st2022-07-15 Cairo, EgyptTeam Men's Sabre1st

Asian Championship YearLocationEventPosition2016 Wuxi, ChinaTeam Men's Sabre1st2017 Hong Kong, ChinaTeam Men's Sabre1st2018 Bangkok, ThailandTeam Men's Sabre3rd2019 Tokyo, JapanIndividual Men's Sabre1st2019 Tokyo, JapanTeam Men's Sabre1st2022 Seoul, South KoreaIndividual Men's Sabre3rd2022 Seoul, South KoreaTeam Men's Sabre1st2024 Kuwait City, KuwaitIndividual Men's Sabre1st2024 Kuwait City, KuwaitTeam Men's Sabre1st

Performance timeline National team Team events 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Olympic Games NH G NH G World Championships A QF G G G NH G S Asian Games NH G NH G Asian Championships A G G B G NH G G Summer Universiade A NH G NH G NH

Team Events 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 World Cup NH A W NH W NH W NH QF NH W QF F W NH W NH SF QF W A SF W W W NH A NH W NH F QF SF W QF F NH A NH SF NH QF QF A W SF NH W R16

Individual Team events 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Olympic Games NH A NH QF NH G World Championships A NH QF R32 G NH QF Asian Games NH S NH G Asian Championships A QF QF R32 G NH B Summer Universiade A NH R32 NH G NH

Team Events 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Grand Prix NH QF NH NH W NH NH SF A NH R16 NH R64 W NH R32 R32 QF W R32 NH R64 R32 QF R16 W NH W NH A R64 NH World Cup NH A SF NH R64 NH R32 NH R16 NH QF R16 W W NH F NH W SF R64 SF QF SF QF R16 NH A NH SF NH R64 R16 R32 R16 SF SF NH A NH R16 NH R64 QF A SF SF NH W R16

Personal life

Oh attended Daejeon University, known for its fencing team, on a scholarship and graduated in 2019.

Filmography Television shows Year Title Role Notes 2021 Racket Boys Club members Episode 1–12

References

External links