Viktor Ahn — short-track speed skater; coach with roots in the Russia
Viktor Ahn was born Ahn Hyun-soo in Seoul on 23 November 1985. He has no Russian ancestry; he enters the archive because he chose to build the second half of his career in Russia, became a Russian citizen and won Olympic gold medals for it.
Scouted and trained by the three-time Olympic champion Kim Ki-hoon, he became one of the leading short-track skaters of his generation. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin he won three gold medals, in the 1,000 metres, 1,500 metres and 5,000-metre relay, and a bronze, and he won five consecutive world all-around titles. A dispute between his family and the Korean skating union and his failure to qualify for the 2010 Games in Vancouver followed.
In 2011 he moved to Moscow to train with the Russian team. On 28 December 2011 President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree granting him Russian citizenship; since South Korea did not allow dual citizenship, he lost his Korean nationality. He explained that he wanted to compete for Russia and could not do so without a Russian passport. He chose the name Viktor because it is a common Russian name that echoes the English word victory and because he admired the late rock musician Viktor Tsoi, who was of Korean descent. He made his debut for Russia at a World Cup event in Moscow in 2012.
At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, skating at the Iceberg Skating Palace, he won Russia's first Olympic medals in short track: gold in the 500 and 1,000 metres and the 5,000-metre relay, and bronze in the 1,500 metres. With six Olympic gold medals and eight medals in all, he holds the most Olympic titles in the sport and is the only short-track skater to have won Olympic gold at every distance. After Sochi he said he had wanted to train in the best possible environment and had been proved right; his move caused a public outcry in South Korea.
He retired in April 2020 and turned to coaching, including with the Chinese team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, a role that drew criticism in Korea along with his years in Russia. In 2023 he returned to South Korea to coach.
"Trained in Moscow from 2011, received Russian citizenship by decree in December 2011 and competed for Russia until his retirement in 2020; later returned to South Korea to coach."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Seoul (born); Russia from 2011
No Russian ancestry. Born Ahn Hyun-soo in Seoul, he moved to train in Moscow, received Russian citizenship in December 2011, competed for Russia for most of a decade and won three Olympic gold medals for it at Sochi in 2014. He chose the name Viktor partly after the rock musician Viktor Tsoi.
No Russian ancestry; Korean parents.
Seoul (born); Russia from 2011. Today, the former Soviet space comprises fifteen sovereign independent states.