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Roy Jones Jr. Receives 1988 Olympic Gold After Park Si-hun Hands Over Medal in Newly Released Video

The personal gesture offers closure for a bout long condemned for its judging.

South Korea's Park Si-hun, left, delivers a left jab to Roy Jones Jr. of the United States, during the summer Olympics in Seoul on October 2, 1988.
Jones Jr. speaks to the media during the fight between Seantorius Martin and Rommel Toran in April.
Boxing - Roy Jones Jr v Enzo Maccarinelli cruiserweight fight - VTB Ice Palace, Moscow - 12/12/15 American-Russian Roy Jones Jr during the fight REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/ File Photo
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Overview

  • Footage posted this week on Roy Jones Jr.’s YouTube channel shows Park Si-hun visiting Jones’s Pensacola ranch on May 30, 2023, to present him with the Seoul 1988 light-middleweight gold medal.
  • In the video, Park’s son translates as Park tells Jones, “I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you; it belongs to you,” prompting an emotional reaction from Jones.
  • Jones was widely viewed as the rightful winner of the 1988 final after outlanding Park by a large margin and scoring a standing eight count, yet Park won a 3-2 split decision.
  • The IOC reported in 1997 that it found no evidence of bribery in the judging, following a 1996 USOC call for an inquiry based on East German Stasi documents about payments to favor South Korean boxers.
  • The handover does not change the official Olympic record, making the exchange a symbolic act of reconciliation rather than an institutional reversal.