Lee Won-hee
South Korean judoka
李元熹 · 이원희
- Born
- 19 July 1981, Seoul
- Citizenship
- South Korea
- Sport
- judo
- Occupation
- judoka
- Height
- 172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
- Weight
- 73 kg (161 lb)
Lee Won-hee (Korean: 이원희; born 19 July 1981) is a South Korean quadruple judo champion. Lee won the gold medal in the men's lightweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. He was the world champion in 2003. He also won the gold medal in 2006 Asian Games and 2003 Asian Judo Championships.
He won his Olympic gold medal by way of Ippon against Vitaly Makarov of Russia with 9 seconds left. He was leading in the bout anyway, but had secured the win when he went in for Drop Seoi Nage and combined it with Kouchi gari to deliver Makarov onto his back with force. He was voted top judoka in the 2004 Olympics. Lee was renowned for his favourite technique Tai Otoshi.
Lee is arguably one of the best South Korean judokas ever to live. During his active career, he was nicknamed "Mr. Ippon" and "Grand Slammer" for his 48-game winning streak, of which, 43 were won by ippon. He lost to Wang Ki-chun in the qualifications for the 2007 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro and 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Competitions
| Competition | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 Summer Olympics | 2004 | |
| 2006 Asian Games | 2006 |
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q497310 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.