Tong-Gu Chung and the development of elite sport in South Korea: A biographical study

Abstract

This study examines the career of Tong-Gu Chung, a South Korean athlete, coach, and sport administrator. As a wrestler, Chung was a national champion. As a coach, he guided the South Korean wrestling team at the 1976 Olympic Games. As an administrator, he served as president of the Korea National Sport University. In these roles, which coincided with a time of military rule in South Korea, Chung was known as a harsh, authoritarian leader. However, since the end of military rule, Chung has held a much different set of leadership roles, working with organizations that support the educational and professional development of retired athletes. The current study explored these apparent contradictions in Chung’s career through a biographical approach, using pragmatism as an analytical lens.

Keywords:

• Pragmatism
• human rights
• South Korea
• leadership
• politics
• sport

Notes

1. The five books by Chung reviewed for the current study were (a) 레슬링 [Wresting] (1981), (b) 스포츠와 인간승리 [Sport and Human Victory] (1999), (c) 스포츠정책사론 [History of Sports Policy] (2001), (d) 체육사: 고대그리스에서 지금까지 [Sport History: From Ancient Greece to the Current Era] (2002), and (e) 국제스포츠정책론 [Theories of International Sports Policy] (2004).