Yoo Nam-kyu

Yoo Nam-kyu is, to me, a living chapter of table tennis history. A Busan-born Korean who appeared at three straight Olympics, in 1988, 1992 and 1996, he reached the summit on home soil in Seoul, a moment that must have meant everything to Korean sport. At 166 cm he was hardly imposing, yet across the table he surely loomed large. Rising to the top in an era when China dominated the sport says everything about his resolve. I have real affection for the kind of player who wins through sheer obsession over a single ball rather than spectacle, and that was his game.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Yoo Nam-kyu

Name (Japanese)

劉南奎

Reading

ゆ・なむぎゅ

Born

June 4, 1968 (age 58)

Origin

Busan, South Korea

Height

166 cm

Occupation

table tennis player

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Monkey

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoo%20Nam-kyu
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%89%E5%8D%97%E5%A5%8E
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q440772

Tags

• table tennis player

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.