29 Facts About Viktor An

Viktor An, is a South Korean-born Russian short-track speed skating coach and retired short-track speed skater.

Viktor An has the most Olympic gold medals in the sport, three of which he won in the 2006 Winter Olympics and the other three in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Viktor An holds the most overall titles at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, and is the only male short track skater to win five consecutive world titles.

Viktor An's recovery being slow and his South Korean local team dissolved in 2010, Ahn, aiming for his second Olympics, became a Russian citizen the next year and began racing for the Russian team.

Viktor An's coach, Kim Ki-hoon, was a three-time Olympic gold medalist who scouted Ahn and continued to train him.

Viktor An trained ten hours every day from techniques, speed, and endurance to video analysis.

Viktor An made the finals for the 1000 m event but returned home without a medal, after a controversial fall involving Apolo Ohno, Li Jiajun, and Mathieu Turcotte that allowed Australian Steve Bradbury to sweep the gold medal.

Viktor An's leaders were Kim Ki-hoon, a three-time Olympic champion, and Jun Myung-kyu, former vice president of the Korea Skating Union who was the head coach of the Korean short track speed skating team from 1987 to 2002.

Viktor An set a new Olympic record time of 1:26.739 in the 1000 m, finishing ahead of teammate Lee Ho-suk and rival Ohno.

Viktor An is the first South Korean man to win at least 3 medals in a single Winter Olympics.

Viktor An became the first male short track skater to win four consecutive world titles.

Viktor An won silver in the 3000 m behind Song, and won two bronze medals in the 500 m and the 1500 m With this victory, Ahn became the first man to win five consecutive world championships.

Viktor An moved to Russia in June 2011 and decided to naturalize on July.

Viktor An became the short track speed skater with the most Olympic gold medals, with five, which increased to six with a 5000 m relay win later the same day.

Viktor An added that his father, who had argued Ahn was the victim of faction fight in Korea, was contradicting him, and going to the Olympics was the sole reason why he made the difficult decision to come to Russia.

Viktor An became the only man to win six world championships in the sport.

Viktor An won bronze in the 500 m and silver in the 5000 m relay at the 2017 European Championships, and won silver in the 500 m race at the 2018 European Championships.

Viktor An was noticed working as a player-coach at Korea National Sports University.

Viktor An personally coached young skaters at the Korea National Sport University after the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

However, in February 2018, Viktor An Ahn sent a text message to South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Member of parliament Ahn Min-seok.

In March 2022, Viktor An Ahn said Yonhap News Agency in an interview that he had never been disadvantaged by the Korea Skating Union.

Viktor An was named as honorary ambassador for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics bidding committee with Jin Sun-yu.

Viktor An was selected Most Valuable Player in the Sochi Winter Olympics by NBC, and 2014 Athlete of the Year by the Russian edition of 'GQ' magazine.

Viktor An was inducted into the Korea National Sports University Ice Rink Hall of Fame as the 2006 Winter Olympics champion and the Sochi Walk of Fame as the 2014 Winter Olympics champion.

Viktor An had considered competing for the United States, but found that the process for gaining Russian citizenship was much easier.

Viktor An chose "Viktor" as his Russian name as it derived from Victory, and to pay tribute to Viktor Tsoi, a Soviet rock star of ethnic Korean descent.

Viktor An was denied that position due to significant public opposition.

Viktor An can restore his South Korean nationality under the South Korean nationality law.

Viktor An covered the World Cup series and the World Championships.