Topic: Kim Jong Il

Kim Jong-Il (sometimes spelled Kim Yong-Il to avoid confusion with the North Korean leader), born 11 September 1962, is a retired South Korean long jumper, best known for winning two gold medals at the Asian Games. He also competed in the Olympics twice, and was the first Korean track and field athlete to have made a final round at the Olympics. His personal best jump was 8.00 metres, achieved in August 1988 in Seoul. After retiring as an active athlete, he turned to a career in coaching and academics.

Kim Jong-Il was born on 11 September 1962, and is a native of Jincheon. He became a member of the national track and field team in 1979, and first made his mark internationally by winning the gold medal in long jump at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. His jump of 7.94 metres was the second best Asian Games result of all times, only behind T.C. Yohannan's winning jump of 8.07 metres in 1974. Kim beat second-placed Liu Yuhuang with a slim margin of five centimetres, and third-placed Junichi Usui with seven centimetres.

Two years later, Kim participated in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Entering the qualifying round at the long jump competition, where one would need to finish among the top twelve or achieve at least 7.90 metres to reach the final, Kim began his competition with a non-valid jump. His second jump measured 7.67 metres, in a head wind of 2.5 m/s, which was not enough to progress. However, with his final qualifying jump measuring 7.87 metres, he finished ninth in total, thus making it to the finals—together with fellow Asians Junichi Usui (8.02 m) and Liu Yuhuang (7.83 m). In the final round, Kim opened with jumps of 7.76 and 7.81 metres. The latter jump ranked him in eighth place, the threshold necessary to get a further three jumps after the first three. Failing to capitalize on this opportunity, with two jumps of 7.77 and 7.59 as well as two fouls he remained in eighth place. Nonetheless, he was the first Korean track and field athlete to have made a final round at the Olympics.