Choi Gwi-Seung

The influence of Choi Gwi-Seung on the sport of modern pentathlon spread not just through his native South Korea, but also across Asia. In the early 1960s Choi began to follow a training plan set by the Swedish athlete Wille Grut, who had won gold in the modern pentathlon at the 1948 London Olympics. In 1964 Choi was selected to represent South Korea at the Tokyo Games, but finished last of the 37 competitors. Despite his poor performance at the Games, he was committed to improve the technical developments within in the sport.

After building networks throughout Asia, Choi founded the Asian Modern Pentathlon Confederation in 1987. He then worked on the technical committee of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) in the 1990s, before serving as the Vice-President of the organisation from 1997 until 2016.